The Long Game
by Tazmainian Devil
Summary: The group stands divided over upheaval in the Fire Nation as something dark and ancient rises from the Spirit World - Sequel to The Slow Path; Taang, Zutara, Sukka.
1. Sisterhood

Title:** The Long Game**

Author: Taz

Summary: The group stands divided over upheaval in the Fire Nation as something dark and ancient rises from the Spirit World

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, I just like to play in their sandbox

* * *

Spring was here.

The faint smell of new growth that permeated the world was lost out amid the endless salt-spray scent of the ocean but the wind was a touch warmer and the press of the sun on her skin was just a little firmer than it had been the week before.

Toph leaned over the railing and vomited spectacularly.

A deck hand absently patted her back as he passed behind her, his vibrations even on metal, blurred by the crash of waves against the hull.

_Almost there,_ she tried to reassure herself as she spit again in an effort to cleanse her mouth of the rancid taste of bile. _Almost there._

She had traveled as far as she could across the Earth Kingdom, but even on the fastest of ships it was three days to the Great Gates of Azulon. Three days in which Toph had barely been able to keep down more than water. She had wanted to wait for an airship but Katara had begged, pleaded and cajoled so Toph was coming by horrible nauseating deathtrap.

In truth she had been glad for the excuse to leave. After the upheaval of the previous fall and the influx of new earthbenders who were not just students but wards to the school, Toph and her team of fighters – generally referred to as the Bei Fong Bandits – had hunkered down for the winter, building their new charges' skills and confidence, even as she tried to rebuild the lines of division that had broken between her fighters.

It had been a long and quiet winter.

Almost seven months – it was the longest Toph had gone without travelling since the day she'd left home at the age of twelve and apparently it didn't agree with her – if her second in command shoving Toph into her armour, throwing her a pack and propelling her forcibly out of her own dojo was any indication.

"Go see Master Katara, Sifu. Give us time for the bruises to heal."

_Ingrates. _

Not that there was much for her to do at this point in the year. The beginning of the planting season was a traditional time of holiday as the whole of the Earth Kingdom welcomed the waking of their element after winter's long dark.

The ship struck another cresting swell and Toph trembled slightly, clutching her stomach and sliding down to huddle against the railing. She tipped her face towards the sky in an effort to relieve the spinning nausea, wishing plaintively for dry dependable land. Even Appa's back would have been preferable to a ship on the ocean. What was the point of having an airbender of her very own if he was never around to give her a lift?

Aang.

She breathed deeply and tried to focus on clearing her mind the way he'd been trying to teach her. Toph would rather have swallowed her championship belt whole than admit it, but she missed him. In the last six months they had spent a grand total of one week together, never more than three days at a time. The Avatar's return after such a long absence necessitated a visit to every important court, endless demands from the Sages and the Council of Four Nations, and a trip to every place of spiritual power. Since the day Twinkletoes had asked her to travel with him they had managed exactly one day of actual travel – back to her school outside Omashu.

And precious little else.

Toph couldn't suppress a snort even though there was no one around to appreciate her predicament. Perhaps Katara would be sympathetic, but considering the vibrations between her and Sparky the last time they had all been together, Sweetness was more likely to be smug.

A shout went up from the crew signalling the ship's arrival at the gates of the harbour. She staggered to her feet with a groan of relief and rushed below deck to gather her belongings.

* * *

Toph only just suppressed the urge to collapse and spread herself across the flagstones of the pier, listening as her seismic sense resolved itself into a clear picture of the open plaza they had once laid siege to. Now the harbour was teeming with life; shouting sailors, haggling merchants and the tearful reunion of families long separated made her smile, but her jovial mood evaporated at the sound of a group of four men attempting to disguise the clank of heavy armour under whispering robes.

_Nice try, Zuko._

Ever since Toph had accidentally gotten herself named princess of Omashu in an attempt to give him a heart attack by placing herself at the top of his list of prospective brides, it had become the perpetual goal of the new Fire Lord to escort her to the palace in a manner befitting her station:

Palanquin.

She, Toph Bei Fong, who got motion sick on every mode of transportation not attached to her ankles.

The first time it happened she had wandered right past them, never imagining someone would send such a thing for her. The second time they had chased her down. Airship or ocean, alone or with companions, every single time in the last five years she had set foot in the Fire Nation there had been someone trying to make her ride in one of those shaky deathtraps.

With her stomach still churning after three days at sea, she was in no mood to play old games. Toph dipped her head forward, tilting the wide brim of her round hat forward to shadow her sightless eyes, and hefted the pack that bulged with her armour higher on her shoulder, trying to stay in the depths of the crowd where she wouldn't be noticed. The vendor she had bought them from assured her that her clothes were exactly right for middle class citizens of the Fire Nation colonies. They had already caught her once in Earth Kingdom greens and a second time trying to pass as a down on her luck beggar.

She stepped carefully into the thick of a crowd, keeping two heavyset men with officious pride in every step between her and the guards, making her way past them up the Royal Plaza.

"Princess Toph?"

An unsure voice called behind her. New guard. She sighed and heard his fellows groan. Apparently no one was in the mood for this merry chase. Lifting the brim of her hat she turned her fogged eyes in their direction. "Can we just pretend you didn't see me?"

For a moment she thought that they might actually agree. The job was a essentially a one way ticket to a humiliating beating at her hands, reserved for the members of Zuko's royal guard who made stupid mistakes. The last time a team of guards had managed to get her on the palanquin she'd been sixteen and running a fever. Most of them knew what she could do and if the trepidation in their heartbeats was anything to go by they weren't excited for her stony vengeance.

"Your highness, His eminence the Fire Lord was insistent."

Everyone except that accursed new guard.

"Remember that you brought this on yourselves," she called, dropping into an earthbending stance and tossing a boulder their way. There was an outcry of panic as people on the docks scrambled out of the path of the flying stone. It was barely moving, certainly not capable of much more than knocking the unlucky away, but the hordes on the dock reacted as though it were another day of black sun. Eight years since Ozai fell and the borders were reopened, and the Fire Nation was still surprised by earthbenders.

Not waiting to see whether or not the enormous rock had actually hit her target, Toph darted away through the crowds, using her small stature to slide quickly between the crushing throngs of people who were moving toward the harbour to see what all the fuss was about.

Her thighs were burning with effort by the time she reached the end of the Royal Plaza, sounding out the winding path that led up the mountain to the Caldera City. Ridiculous, ostentatious Fire Nation. Though it had been a formidable line of defense on the day of the invasion, the endless paved space was unwieldy for normal use.

And it was giving Sparky's lackeys far too much of a chance to catch up with her. Apparently palanquins could move pretty fast when no one had to worry about a passenger. Sighing with irritation and exertion Toph hoisted her luggage higher and set off running again.

One of these days she would reach the Fire Nation Palace and not be out of breath and sweating.

* * *

"I don't see why Sparky was so mad," Toph grumbled as Katara's hand in the small of her back shoved her out into the open courtyard. Geometric shapes of well-tended formal gardens edged a neatly tiled path, ringing an ornamental fountain that tingled like music. Toph dug her toes in, heedless of the marks that they left on the stone and tried to stop her friend's instant pushing.

"Because your honour guard interrupted a budget meeting." Katara seemed to be walking a fine line between deliriously happy and totally exhausted. Every time she and Sparky looked at one another their heartbeats went from erratic to steady. She even smelled like Zuko. But her footsteps were heavier and more carefully measured, lacking her usual waterbender's grace.

"I wasn't even with them," Toph protested, ensconcing herself on the edge of the garden's fountain.

"No," Katara's voice was wry and scolding all at once. She stood before Toph with her hands on her hips. "You let them chase you right to the palace doors and then gave them the slip."

Zuko hadn't stepped down from the throne to greet her when she'd sauntered in looking totally relaxed behind her panting, embarrassed palanquin bearers. He hadn't gotten all flamey and annoyed, which was an equally time honoured form of welcome between the two of them. He had barely managed a hello before an advisor had appeared at his elbow and demanded his attention.

Too busy to greet every random foreign official arriving at the Fire Palace was one thing, but being too busy to welcome her was quite another. There was something fishy in the Fire Nation and Toph was willing to bet her championship belt that it was the court sharks circling her friends, looking for blood in the water.

Still, she had come at Katara's behest and she would help the best way she knew how:

By giving her something clear, concrete and relentlessly annoying to focus her frustrations on.

Toph grinned. "It was pretty good wasn't it? I didn't think they would actually go in."

The waterbender threw up her hands in exasperation. "Why?"

"Same reason he sent the spirits blessed idiots to pick me up." Toph picked absently at her fingernails. "You may love him with all your soft and squishy heart Sugar Queen, but Zuko is every bit as vindictive as I am."

Katara couldn't suppress a fit of giggling, but she attempted to school her voice back to sternness. "He's the Fire Lord. Zuko has to welcome you according to your station."

"Well he should check his information. Bumi appointed Mr. Mustachio a month ago. I am just another fabulously wealthy Master Earthbender."

For a moment Toph thought she might sit, but Katara just turned to pacing, her heartbeat erratic with pent up energy. "You're still second in the line of succession. Unless Haru has a baby anytime soon…"

"There's a thought." Toph snapped her fingers and reached up to flick the golden Fire Lady symbol that encircled the pendant of Katara's choker. "Forget being Hothead's girl and come marry Moustache instead. That way you'll be closer to me!"

"You marry him," Katara retorted childishly.

Toph snorted. "Oh yeah that would go over well. _'Hey want to be my sweet dish on the side?' _He'd love the idea I'm sure." She broke into giggles for a moment before she realized Katara had stopped pacing and was staring at her.

"What do you mean?" she said in a low voice. "Go over well with who?"

"No one," Toph cursed inwardly as her voice came out a full octave higher than normal. "Just in general I mean…"

Katara crossed her arms over her chest. "You know Toph, for someone who always knows when others aren't telling the truth, you're not much of a liar."

"Whatever Sugar Queen." She stood, heading for the archway that led back inside. "Come on, I'm starving."

Water lifted from the fountain and snapped towards her ankles so fast that Toph barely heard it before it had frozen her feet to the ground. "Oh no, you're not getting away that easily. I haven't had a girl chat that didn't involve courtly rat-viper double talk since the last time Suki came to visit and I want details."

"I don't do girl chat Sweetness," Toph groused, and was completely ignored.

"It must be someone I know, or you wouldn't bother hiding it from me. Is it that boy your parents tried to get you to marry? The Duke – I heard he's gotten pretty handsome." She paused in her speculations for a moment and her voice turned plaintive. "You're not dating Chen again are you?"

"I was sixteen when I dated him! And at least Chen never tried to kill the rest of us," she coughed, making no effort whatsoever to disguise the name Jet under the noise.

"Teo is engaged… hmm is it Administrator Shoji? He seemed taken with you the last time you were here," Katara continued on blithely, oblivious to Toph's mounting temper. "Oh! Oh! Is it the Earth King? Are you going to be consort number eight?"

Stone burst through the ice crust, shattering it like glass.

"It's Aang, alright!"

"Aang?" Katara sounded incomprehensibly bewildered. "Aang the Avatar?"

"Dammit Sugar Queen! We've traveled just about every place on this spirits blessed planet. Have we ever met anyone else named Aang?"

"I heard it's become a fashionable name for babies in the Earth Kingdom lately."

"Katara!"

"Sorry it's just a …surprise."

Toph crossed her arms over her chest and thrust out her chin defiantly. "What, didn't think he could ever like anyone but you?"

"Don't do that," Katara admonished, her voice slightly hurt. "Don't pretend you think I'm that petty."

They stood silent for a moment, not facing one another before Toph turned back, heaving a giant sigh. "Earth you are making me into such a soft touch." She belied her words with a punch to the other girl's arm. "I didn't really think you would be mad."

"Then why were you hiding it?"

"Hey, I don't hide anything from anyone," she insisted, unbalancing Katara with a blunt spike of earth. "It's more a matter of not wanting anyone's scrutiny yet." Another coil of water rose from the fountain and sailed towards her. Toph took a half step back and raised an arm, shearing a thin shield off of the ornamental tiles and neatly deflecting the twisting ribbon. "We've hardly seen one another since his birthday anyway. We're still just sort of friends."

She turned her defense into slim spikes and sent them sailing towards Katara, watching the shifting vibrations of water over the ground as her octopus form snapped each one almost lazily out of the air.

"And that's not what you wanted."

Fissures in the ground broke the water creature apart before Katara had a chance to turn it to the offensive, but she reduced the form back into a swirling torrent around her body, then used the momentum to blast the column at Toph.

"Not exactly."

With the speed of a thought Toph heaved a boulder from the earth and set her feet, wavering only slightly at the impact of the water when it broke upon the rock.

"That's frustrating." Katara nodded sympathetically.

Toph bent the stone beneath them up into slabs that encased Katara's wrists. "What about you?"

"I live here now, Toph." Taking her weight onto her arms Katara spun her legs out in a graceful circling kick that sent another stream of water slicing neatly through the rock, a move they had practiced and perfected years ago. "I see Zuko every day."

"I meant how are you doing here?" Toph wrapped a coming wave in dirt bent up from the gardens. "Not everything is about boys, Sweetness." The water turned to mud and allowed to Toph seize control of the sludge, spinning it back at her opponent in a waterbending move Katara had taught her.

"Things are good. The Fire Nation is a fascinating place and it's been interesting trying to learn all the duties of Fire Lady."

Katara pulled the water free of the mud before it could reach her, leaving a puff of dirt behind that obscured the air between them, and leapt just in time to avoid the boulder that came hurtling through the dust.

"You know you haven't distracted me enough that I can't tell you're lying!"

Toph shifted and dropped, pulling a shield of rock out of the ground to block the snap of a water whip across her face and stepped forward, ready to push up a stone pillar and send Katara flying away.

She would recover quickly and blast at Toph with water, they would keep up their dance until they became tired or someone came to interrupt them or they reached an impasse. They were both masters of their elements, they knew one another's strengths and weaknesses inside and out.

Bending against Katara was a challenge but never a surprise.

So instead of blasting her friend Toph moved closer, right into the path of Katara's arcing arm.

The blow was so jarring she cried out.

Toph hadn't cried out in pain during a fight since her second time at Earth Rumble.

The exploding burst against her cheekbone made her dizzy. Katara's bending didn't use strikes the way Zuko's firebending or traditional earthbending did, but there was effort and force behind every flowing movement – Toph was on her back in the dirt before her awareness settled enough to see Katara fall to her knees next to her.

"Toph," she gasped. "Toph I'm sorry, I thought you could tell I was moving. Are you okay?"

"No," Toph's voice was a hysterical burble of laughter. "I am fantastic Sugar Queen."

She reached up and seized Katara by one shoulder and her hair and flipped her over onto the ground.

"_Hey!_" the waterbender shrieked indignantly, recovering fast enough to kick Toph's legs out from under her as she scrabbled to her feet and leapt.

She fell onto Katara, her nose smashing painfully into her friend's abdomen, digging in the point of her chin as she landed and taking the opportunity to strike Katara hard in the stomach.

There was no elegance in the way they fought. They didn't use a single one of the combat moves Suki had so painstakingly taught them; there was no thought to dodging or blocking. There was only the sound of their breathing, pounding blood in their ears and the white hot pain of catharsis.

Katara was bigger and she could see, Toph was a scrapper but she kept losing her vibration sight within the force of strikes and in the end with Katara sitting on her ribs, she caught a punch before impact and gasped. "Stop."

The weight lifted from her chest and she rolled to one side to spit blood against the ground. She'd cut the inside of her mouth against her teeth, her stomach hurt and she could feel a purpling black eye forming. She felt amazing.

"Dear Spirits," Katara breathed. "Why did we do that?"

* * *

They scraped themselves off the ground and staggered closer to the fountain so Katara could heal the worst of their bruises. Toph sat in the churned earth, with her back against the low stone wall of the basin.

"Exactly how frustrated are you, Sweetness?"

Katara scoffed as she pressed her water-coated hand against Toph's swollen eye. "I'm not frustrated at all."

"Oh yeah, my face feels like raw meat because you're blissful."

"Well why are my ribs bruised then?"

Toph tipped her head back against the cool stone and felt her muscles relax as the pain ebbed. "You know when the last time I fought all out was? The last time I was really thrilled by fighting?"

"The volcano," Katara answered without thought or hesitation.

"Exactly." She breathed deeply, remembering the swirl of ash in the air and the certainty that they were all about to die, even as she pushed her abilities to the limit. "I can't seem to settle and it's driving me mad. I used to love bending, I still do, but it's not fun anymore. The school is strong, my students keep improving, I have autonomy and influence. I'm exactly where I want to be but I feel like I'm going crazy with restlessness..."

"Everyone here hates me," Katara blurted over Toph's faltering explanation. "The nobles all think I'm peasant trash – they look at me like I've worked some spell on Zuko. And the people… no one will let me go outside without a retinue and a palanquin. The servants insist that I shouldn't be walking. How can I prove to the people that I can be a good ruler if they don't even know me?"

She pulled the water away from Toph's face and set it swirling over her own bruises. "Zuko says that's the way they do things here. That royalty are supposed to be removed from the common people. But how can you rule effectively if you don't know your citizens? That's not the way we lead in the tribes."

"The Water Tribes are a lot smaller than the Fire Nation," Toph felt obligated to mention.

The stream of liquid hit the fountain and shattered as both froze under Katara's ire. "I know that, but the principle is still the same isn't it? A leader should be able to connect with those who follow him." She lay back across the wide lip of the fountain. "So I'm trying to make friends at court, learn the protocol. But nothing seems to be helping."

Toph shuddered at the thought of all the parts of Katara that weren't maternal and overbearing being subsumed under careful courtly behaviour. "That's because you're doing it all wrong Sugar Queen."

"I am doing everything right," she insisted. "I'm working myself to the bone to make sure I do everything right."

"But it's not you so it isn't working." She knocked her head back against the stone, trying to figure out how best to explain. "Katara, if there's one thing you are fantastic at, it's getting people to open up to you, whether they want to or not. You're just so nauseatingly good-hearted that everyone falls in line. You should be out putting your hopebending powers to use."

Katara shook her head. "No I can't –"

_Alright, enough. _

Gentle encouragement was never going to be Toph's teaching style.

"Hey didn't you used to be the first woman ever to be trained as a warrior waterbender in the Northern Tribe? Who ruled the Council of Four Nations with an icy stare?" she queried with false surprise, lifting her head to pin Katara with a useless glare. "She sounded kind of like you, but your heartbeat is full of _wussy_!"

"I don't want to mess things up for Zuko okay?" she snapped, the glare so evident in her voice Toph could practically see it. "He's worked so hard to get everyone behind him and the Fire Nation back on track. The economy is finally stabilizing; the war ministers are almost pacified. No one has tried to kill him in nearly two years. I refuse to be the thing that comes in and sabotages the balance." Katara's words sounded like an oft repeated mantra. "I am going to be a good wife."

Toph held up a hand to stall the flow of rationalization. "As much as it makes me feel gross to say this, you're going to be a good wife because you love him. If you want to be a good Fire Lady you're going to have to start doing things your own way." She stretched her legs out and folded her arms behind her head in the very picture of smug relaxation. "Take it from someone who grew up in high society. If you try to win favour with their rules, all you'll ever be is the peasant girl who doesn't understand the game."

She heard Katara sigh and knew she had won. "And what would you suggest?"

"Forget trying to win over the nobles." Toph grinned. "Get out your finest, most tawdry peasant clothing out, Sweetness. Tonight we go and meet your people."

* * *

"So I hear you and Toph were…" He coughed unconvincingly, "_sparring_ earlier."

Katara felt her cheeks go hot but she kept all her attention focused on separating her koala-lamb from the bone with as much ladylike delicacy as possible. They didn't often get to eat together without family or guests intruding, and since Toph had opted for a nap instead of joining them Katara was determined to make this a pleasant meal and not rise to the bait.

Zuko took far too long to wipe his lips, but couldn't quite manage to remove his smirk along with the napkin. "So was there mud involved? Because Sokka and Aang told me some stories about you two."

As mortifying as the situation was, becoming indignant did give her the perfect excuse not to spend time with him this evening.

"Shouldn't have said anything," Katara heard him mutter over the pattering sound of wine dripping from his dark hair.

* * *

"You call this meeting the people?"

"They look like people to me."

Katara sighed at the old joke, smoothing out her simple tunic dress and looking around nervously. The only thing she'd had that fit Toph's description of peasant wear was a training uniform in Kyoshi indigo she'd had made when bending practice on the island had become far too hot. She had only packed her most formal clothing for the move here from the South Pole and every time she'd asked for training gear her handmaidens had brought something gold embroidered or armour plated – garments fit for a noble of the Fire Nation, not for sneaking out to seedy bars.

And the place Toph had chosen was the very definition of seedy.

It was two floors of a rundown old building on the edge of a part of the capital city that might charitably be called disreputable. The room smelled of smoke, stale beer and ennui and the bar was sticky and shaded with the patina of a thousand spilled libations. Some of the chairs seemed to be remaining upright by force of will alone, groaning under the weight of the rough looking patrons. The clientele seemed to be an even split between a mercenary looking element and the tired looking souls who obviously used the place as a local watering hole, interspersed by the odd scantily dressed but glaring waitress.

There was a game she didn't recognize going on in one corner amid raucous cheers, but most of the customers seemed to be there only to drink. And look intimidating.

Katara felt horrifically out of place. Toph looked right at home.

"They look like…."

"…like pirates?" Toph gave her a wolfish grin. "Oh sweetness, should I go get Zuko?"

She felt her eyes pop and her face grow hot with embarrassment. She would never be able to live this down. Dear Spirits, Toph would surely tell Sokka too. "He told you!"

"No, but your heartbeats still skyrocket whenever the two of you hear that word so I assumed there was some kind of perverse story," the younger girl flat-out cackled. "And I was right!"

"You are such a brat." Katara slugged the younger girl in the upper arm, though the blow lacked the strength Toph usually put behind her gestures of affection.

Catching her arm, Toph pulled them both toward a set of open stools at the bar before she could make an escape. The whole room was visible from their seats and long cultivated instinct had Katara sizing up threats before she was consciously aware of herself. There were a half dozen men at one low table, with faces not even a mother could love and matching crimson armbands, who were drinking heavily and lounging about as though they owned they own the place. Perhaps they did, she reflected.

"Hey!" Toph shouted to the greasy bartender, throwing him some incomprehensible series of hand gestures. Katara barely had the chance to wonder how a blind girl had learned to signal for drinks when a warm, long necked bottle and two small cups were dropped unceremoniously before them.

She surveyed the half full carafe with a dubious expression. "You've been hanging around bureaucrats too long Sugar Queen," Toph said, pouring two cups of the sake with a practiced hand. "The best place to put your ear to the ground is the place where everyone's tongues are loosest. And there are no nosy servants to tattle on us here."

Katara couldn't help but groan. Apparently the servants to the royal family had been the first to catch sight of the foolish spectacle and had kept others away. After they had passed the story on to the Fire Lord of course.

She took a deep pull of her drink and winced at the burn - she was losing her tolerance around all these soft Fire Nation folk. There wasn't much liquor served at the palace, firebending and alcohol being a notoriously dangerous combination – trying to silence the little voice in her head that was shouting about how Toph's plans always seemed to end up with someone bleeding, broken, or blown up.

"So what do we do now?"

"We wait and hear who has a problem that needs solving."

"Toph!" she cried in frustration. "I thought you said we were going to help people. If you want to play vigilante, go back to your vigilante group!"

"The Bandits are not vigil – alright we completely are, but how else do you want to make a name for yourself?"

"You said you had a plan."

"I never said that, you're thinking of Sokka." She cocked her head to the sound of a particularly loud roar from the corner. "We could go over there and win that game they're playing."

"No scams," Katara said without thinking.

"Well I'm out of ideas." Toph shrugged, refilling their glasses and shaking the already empty bottle with a look of displeasure on her face. "Barkeep, another round!"

Katara looked from her glass to her friend and back, bemused for a moment before everything suddenly clicked. "Oh come _on_ Toph."

"What?"

"Why can we not just talk about things?" she asked reasonably. "Why do we both have to be drunk before you can discuss your feelings?"

"I'm really a guy," Toph said without missing a beat.

Katara raised one eyebrow at Toph's considerable cleavage. "You hide it well."

"You were the one who wanted girl talk Sugar Queen." Her shoulders hunched defensively in a reaction that Katara was absolutely certain Toph wasn't aware of. "I figured you'd want a chance to brag about how Sparky takes your breath away and I could be a good friend and restrain my urge to vomit."

A wicked grin bloomed across Katara's face. Buoyed by the sake warming her cheeks, she leaned in close enough to whisper. "Is Aang not making the earth move for you?"

Toph turned purple.

"Oh go back to Sparky's dancing dragon," she muttered mutinously.

They both burst into laughter.

"I cannot believe you just said that."

"You started it Sugar Queen, I thought you were supposed to be the sweet one."

Katara slumped over, faint shrieks escaping her mouth as she tried to smother her laugh on the back of her hand. The barman returned, not precisely smiling, but certainly scowling a little less now that they had spent some coin. "Can I get you ladies anything else?"

She held up a finger and tried to choke back her giggling, but Toph answered for her. "Who are the big hogmonkeys over there?" She jerked her head towards the table of rowdy men with red armbands.

"You pretty girls should stay away from men like them. Crimson Spear Tong, one of the big gangs in this city. These though," he scoffed and spat, producing a ringing sound from the brass spittoon behind the bar. "Useless thugs with bad attitudes. I pay protection and the Tong sends them around so they can scare off my customers and demand to drink for free."

"There are tongs operating in the Fire Nation's capital?"

"Crime is everywhere girl." He poured them each another measure and then retrieved a glass for himself. "Used to be they kept the soldiers in line, kept 'em from roughing up the girls or burning the place down around your ears. Now they got no one to fight so they've turned to bullying honest workers."

"Doesn't the local prefect try to keep them out?"

"Lady Wu Qing?" The bartender shook his head. "Tong has her so tied up in regulations she's gotta sign three forms before she can take a piss. They pay off the magistrate and they can do anything they want."

"Well," Toph quirked an eyebrow at her pointedly. "Isn't that an interesting dilemma? I suppose it would take someone with political authority to help resolve the issue."

"All I know is that," he jerked his head towards the group of thugs, "is trouble."

One of the prettier waitresses had been hemmed in by the rowdy men. Their leader had his arm around her waist. Her struggles weren't panicked but they were certainly emphatic enough to keep the brigand's hands full while his companions laughed uproariously.

"Come on little flower," the leader leered. He was a firebender. Katara could tell by the way he held himself, keeping at least one palm free at all times. Not military though, he didn't have the confidence of bearing that came from the extensive training regime that the Fire Nation army put their soldiers through. Which meant his bending was mediocre at best and he'd been working for the Tong long enough that they had kept him out of military service. He wore no weapons, indicating undeserved confidence in his abilities, but his team was heavily armed. The man was missing teeth, those which remained were blackened or stained and he was covered in tattoos of indeterminate pattern. Even without the unprovoked molestation of innocent waitresses, he was odious to behold. "I'm so terribly lonely without you."

The girl was protesting, more calmly than Katara had expected. She glanced at the proprietor, expecting to see him readying to defend his employee's honour, wanting him to know she was ready to move in and help. The barman cast about as though looking for something to use as a weapon, his fists clenching helplessly, before lowering his head and levelling a helpless glare at the bar top. A thread of panic began to weave its way into the waitress's voice.

Seemingly spurred on by her fear the thugs' jeering intensified as their leader lifted both himself and the captive out of the chair, forcing the waitress face first down onto the table. He pressed himself against her, one hand jammed into her back, pressing skin further into wood.

Katara was on her feet and halfway across the room before she'd made a conscious decision to act.

"Enough," she said harshly, feeling the drinks of everyone within ten yards ice over.

The brute's head snapped up and his eyes narrowed, but it was one of his lackeys who stepped into her path. "What do you think you're doing, blue girl?"

Fury made her voice tight. "Stop it. Now."

Behind them the leader laughed over the faint whimpers of the trapped waitress. "Why, you want to take her place?"

"Hey look at her Kim; she's one of those water savages" one of his cohorts chuckled. "Wouldn't get too close to that, never know what them ice freaks are carrying."

"Shouldn't be here anyway," another swore, giving Katara a dismissive sneer. His statement was met with a chorus of approval from the Crimson Spear thugs.

"Yeah, get your barbarian hide out of our country, trash. We don't want water people here."

"Oh yeah?" Katara had honestly forgotten she wasn't here alone before Toph sauntered up behind her. "What about earthbenders?"

"Hey," came the shout of a man from the gaming table across the room, whose bright green eyes marked him as an expatriate of the Earth Kingdom. "You're the Blind Bandit! I saw you at Earth Rumble XII."

Toph tossed him a lazy salute as he elbowed his compatriots, drawing their attention to the impending scuffle.

The Crimson Tong seemed unimpressed. "I don't care if you're the bloody Avatar! Back off!"

"Get out and don't ever come back," Toph commanded. "And we'll think about it."

Katara uncorked the waterskin strapped to the small of her back. "Let her up."

The girl on the table jerked, attempting to kick her attacker in the groin. The Tong leader brought his arm back to strike her in the face.

Katara snapped out a water whip and yanked back his hand before he could complete the strike.

The man turned his glare back to her. "Get them!" he roared.

Out of the corner of her eye Katara saw Toph shift into a fighting stance with a wide grin. "Big mistake."

She froze her whip, immobilizing Kim's arm. The man recoiled, trying to break, then melt away the ice and giving the beleaguered waitress an opportunity to dive under the table. Katara liquefied and refroze the water in an instant, trapping both his hands together just as Toph bent her knees and pushed her hands upwards, forcing precision pillars out from the ground to crush three of the Tong against the ceiling.

Behind them the man who was a fan of Earth Rumble cheered.

Katara arced her arms outwards, snatching up every drop of liquor from the table to form a stream that was more club than whip, snapping it forward and sending the two remaining brigands crashing to the floor. She stepped neatly over a crumpled form and got right into Kim's personal space.

He was cursing her before she even had the chance to speak.

"Waterbending _whore_! No one crosses the Crimson Spear. We'll hunt you down and you'll beg us for death before we end you!"

"I shouldn't even get the guards," she snarled back. "I should just leave you to these people. Let them decide how to punish you."

He barked out a laugh. "For putting a tribal bitch like you in her place? The guards are for Fire Nation problems. When they-" A stone band flew out of nowhere and clamped over the man's foul mouth.

"Yeah, get him Bandit!"

A quiet noise of pain from beneath the table drew Katara's attention away from their unpleasant prisoner to the waitress on the floor. Offering a hand down, she drew the frightened woman out. There was a series of rough scrapes across one side of the girl's face from the unpolished wood of the table, a few of the cuts still weeping blood. Katara bent the last of her clean water around her hands and put her focus to healing, Toph's voice an absent hum behind her.

"The guards may not be too interested in a bar scuffle," she admitted. "Especially when you slug-eels clearly needed your heads beaten in –" That remark drew a roar of approval. "But I notice they're not too big on treason here. You see that waterbender? The one you were so keen to teach a lesson to, Flame-for-brains? She's your new Fire Lady."

That snapped Katara instantly out of her healing trance. "Toph!"

"What?" The younger woman was grinning fit to split her face in half.

Half the patrons of the establishment had genuflected the instant they made the connection between Toph's remarks and Katara's appearance. The rest of the room including the bartender looked completely poleaxed.

Their trapped Tong looked just as shocked, but for the first time there was terror in his expression.

Longstanding paranoia and the political upheaval caused by a century of war had led the Fire Nation to develop particularly harsh punishments for those accused of treason, especially when it concerned the personages of the royal family, as they were a physical embodiment of the nation itself. A conviction of treason did not just mean death for the accused, but their entire family as well, and anyone in regular continued contact or correspondence could be expected to undergo harsh torture at the very least.

Anger still sparking along her nerves, Katara was half ready to denounce the man and call for the city watch when the implications of such a move brought her up short. With Mai as head of security for the Fire Lord and Zuko's natural tendency to get personally involved in every conflict that happened within a hundred miles of him, such harsh measures had been scaled back slightly. But if she turned this into a matter of assault on the royal family, every person in the bar would be detained, questioned and likely charged with some offence or another.

Katara resisted the urge to curse vehemently, resigned herself to never living this story down and decided to make the best of her newfound ability to overawe.

"Petty thugs and intimidating bullies will not be tolerated," she instructed in her most stern and imperious council voice. "You will leave and never trouble these people again. Or I will send you to the Boiling Rock for the rest of your short and miserable lives."

The ice and stone melted away from the cretin's body with the smallest gesture she could manage, Toph releasing the captive as soon as she moved. He stood riveted for a moment by her stare.

"Now!" Toph shouted at the top of her lungs. The man leapt and sprinted away as though she had lit him on fire. "Tell your friends all about how you got your ass handed to you by the Fire Lady and the Blind Bandit!"

She laughed at what must have been the vibrations of the retreating thug and was almost instantly accosted by the Earth Rumble fan and his friends, but Katara observed the damage they'd caused with dismay. A few sweeping motions and the various liquids that coated the floor and nearby furniture swirled themselves into a ribbon and poured into a half empty basin behind the bar. Toph sighed in irritation at the idea of cleanup, but broke away from her fans long enough to carefully smooth the broken stones of the floor back into place.

Pulling her purse free of the pocket of her tunic, Katara pressed a number of gold coins into the bartender's hand. "I am sorry for the damage and the trouble. We'll go as soon as Toph can tear herself away."

"My lady!" The waitress fairly leapt across the room and threw herself down at Katara's feet, pressing kisses to the back of her hand. "Thank you, thank you so much."

Mortified, Katara barely resisted the urge to jerk away, managing to ease back gently and pull the girl back up. "You don't need to, ah, do that. I just wanted to help."

"Thank you," the bartender repeated, looking satisfied. "I don't care what comes of all this. It was worth it to see those boys sent running for their mommas."

Katara looked up at him sharply. "You think they'll be back?"

"If not them," he shrugged, "then some other jumped up Tong grunt. It was worth it to see you fight, your ladyship, you and the earth mistress, like the return of Princess Azula herself!"

Behind her, Katara heard the grind and crunch of stone as Toph moved into a defensive stance at the sound of Azula's name. She could practically smell the ozone in the air, striking fiercely to the accompaniment of maniacal laughter.

She coughed and cleared her throat, but her voice still came out strangled.

"I beg your pardon?"

* * *

_A/N: I'm back baby!_

_Honestly I couldn't stay away. This fandom is too much fun not to play with. The rest of the chapters will probably be a touch shorter than this but the combined awesome of Katara and Toph refused to be divided._


	2. Bound and Hidden

**II. Bound and Hidden**

* * *

The sun she had been so pleased to feel only yesterday was tormenting Toph this morning.

Even a deft touch of waterbender healing hadn't been able to completely purge her of the headache she had awoken with and the heat only intensified the unpleasant throbbing at her temples. Not to mention the noise and vibrations of the enormous crowd that was gathered before the platform on which she stood.

It was the first day of the Fire Nation holiday of Shunki Korei-sai, the seven day celebration that preceded the Vernal equinox. Where the Earth Kingdom held a thousand local celebrations to welcome back life to the earth, here the renewing of the year was marked with solemnity and the honouring of ones ancestors; in particular the imperial line.

Though it had shocked her, in retrospect the reverence held by the bartender and other civilians for Azula wasn't really a surprise. So few people still knew the real story of the day that Sozin's Comet scorched the sky.

Ozai's public disgrace of Zuko and his subsequent banishment had been an event without precedent in the history of Agni's line. The royal family was the center of all life in the Fire Nation. Head of government, paragons of strength and honour, the template by which every loyal son or daughter of the empire measured their lives. A living embodiment of an entire country's values.

And as a consequence no one but the fire sages and the royal family knew that Azula had tried to slaughter her brother.

In the upheaval that followed Ozai's defeat it was decided that, the tattered remains of the imperial line would have to be salvaged. Eventually the people were told that Azula and Zuko had faced one another on the day of the comet and the prince had convinced his sister that the true path for the Fire Nation lay in following the Avatar. They had fought an honourable Agni Kai for the position of Fire Lord and Zuko had triumphed, proving that he held the mandate of heaven. After which Azula had retreated into seclusion, dedicating herself to the study of bending.

Toph had nearly laughed herself sick at the idea, the first time Zuko had explained it.

The idea that the mad fire princess would have retreated from anything, ever was completely preposterous. She'd been floored when it worked so well.

But of course the people of Zuko's country didn't know the princess who had tried to kill her uncle, who'd laid waste to everything in her path and brutally tortured prisoners of war. The relentless propaganda machine of the Fire Nation had called her a hero; painted Azula a triumphant servant of the people, the very apotheosis of national pride.

Today, that pride took the form of the impressive crowd which had turned out to welcome the returning members of the royal house. Dowager Fire Lady Ursa and Crown Prince Iroh were arriving by airship from Ba Sing Se for the festival.

Toph was part of the public greeting ceremony for the family taking place on the steps of the palace. Ostensibly because she was a visiting dignitary, but Toph suspected that the real reason was if Katara had to be groomed within an inch of her life and stand about all morning in the sun with a hangover then the cause of that hangover – which Toph was not and flat out refused to be blamed for – had to be right there with her.

She drummed her bare toes against the carpeted marble, not caring who noticed the evidence of her boredom and wondered if grand pointless spectacles were more fun if you could actually see them. Somehow it didn't seem likely.

At long last Zuko's mother and uncle reached the summit of the steps and were greeted solemnly by the Fire Lord. Katara stepped forward and was formally presented to them both as Zuko's betrothed, again; as though the royals might have been struck with a sudden case of amnesia and forgotten a woman they had known for years. Fortunately the pantomime wasn't necessary with her, but Toph was still obligated to curtsy respectfully and not throw herself at Iroh the way she really wanted to. She was halfway through rising from the bend when the old general flouted protocol all on his own, reached out and pulled her into an embrace.

Toph squawked half-heartedly but squeezed him tightly back.

"You're looking a touch pale Miss Bei Fong," he teased. The question was the very epitome of politeness and she was willing to bet her last gold coin that his face revealed nothing but disingenuous interest. "Too much sun?"

"Thought you were going to break a hip on those stairs old man," Toph snarked, pulling away. "Can we go back inside yet?"

"Oh," Iroh groaned loud enough to be heard by the closest of the assembled onlookers. "So much travel is not good for my old bones. I need a rest."

Zuko fairly leapt forward to assist, forgetting for a moment that his uncle was still the Dragon of the West and not nearly as doddering as he pretended to be. Ursa offered Katara her arm whispering companionably into her ear as they sauntered past.

Toph stood alone at the top of the stairs and listened to them chatter, a rush of irrational melancholy sinking her mood like a heavy stone in water. Her brother, their Uncle and the women bound more tightly to them than she would ever really be. Shaking her head Toph dismissed the surge of emotion with a rueful grin, stepping forward under the eaves of the palace roof and out of sight of the roaring crowd to take two steps past the giggling ladies and launch herself onto Zuko's back.

"Sparky I cannot believe you made me stand out there in the hot sun for no reason!" She exclaimed, ignoring the way he almost overbalanced as she slung her arms around his neck too tightly. Zuko flailed madly trying to keep upright and she clung to his back like a limpet, cackling while he choked and sputtered protests.

"Toph get down!"

"You were the one who didn't want me to walk."

"From the harbour!" He shouted back, trying to get a good enough grip to pry her off.

Toph dodged like an airbender and dug her heels into his sides, listing to Zuko's heartbeat match the laughter of everyone around them. Melancholy was a waste of energy. She was part of their family whether they liked it or not.

* * *

In preparation for Shunki Korei-sai the Fire Palace was being cleansed. First physically by the serving staff, then ritually by the sages and probably physically again afterwards to get rid of the smell of burning sage and the incense ash all over the floor. For the royal family though, there were no further celebrations until twilight, so Katara and Toph had opted to give Zuko some time alone with his mother and Uncle. This left the two of them free to ransack the palace's archives for any information on the prefecture maintained by Lady Wu Qing. Or rather it gave Katara a chance to investigate; Toph still had no burning desire to hold books, even if she had managed to learn enough to read the embossed titles. Instead she paced out a few square feet of open floor, close to Katara's desk so that she could act as a sounding board, and brought out her latest bending project.

With metal crumpling at her will, sand swirling at her command and lava being rather location-specific to practice on, Toph had lately turned her will to crystals. It was something she was attempting to keep quiet - being a gemstone bender would have had gold coins piling up behind her father's eyes before she could even finish explaining - but it was proving to be an interesting test of her abilities.

Creating crystals wasn't a lost art per say, but it was a relic of an age in which every master bender hadn't needed to focus all their skills completely on fighting the Fire Nation. King Bumi had practiced crystal forming for many decades and the crystal catacombs of Ba Sing Se stood as testament to how popular a craft it had once been. Toph had worked her way up from delicate peridot – which everyone had always told her looked just like her eyes - through the variegated forms of quartz, emeralds and topaz to the most difficult stones: rubies and sapphires. It wasn't a skill she used often, but it had allowed her to grow a wide flat piece of tourmaline for Sokka to carve Suki's betrothal necklace from, and then grow four more when he kept making mistakes.

The only material that completely resisted her forms was diamond. Earthbenders could cut and shape a piece of the gem but could never produce more. Toph was not the kind of person to take a limitation as read, but a process for bending diamond had not even occurred to her until after her rather abrupt and short lived introduction to being a firebender. The next time she had gone to put in the diamond studs she had received for her sixteenth birthday the gemstones had rather abruptly made sense.

_Heat._ That was what they needed. Diamonds required a trial by fire.

It made her like the stones more than she ever had while listening to her mother coo about their cost and sparkle.

Tearing away the gold setting from the stones, she had spent the better part of a day sounding them out before even attempting to bend them. There was no way to replicate the heat required. A firebender under the influence of a comet couldn't have created the right temperature, but in the end understanding the change had been enough to recreate it for herself. She'd pressed the tiny points of stone into the center of a coal lump and focused herself on changing the porous material molecule by molecule into that perfect pure stillness of diamond.

It took a week to transform a piece the size of her thumbnail. Another month and a half to form the first link.

The perfect display of a stone carver's skill: the chain carved from a single piece of rock in which every link was whole, perfect and separate; that was her goal.

In three months she'd managed a foot and a half. In four it had doubled in length.

The movements and concentration required came more easily with every attempt, but today each time she cleared her mind and let all that she was sink into the coal and the stone, Katara would shatter the silence with another list of offences - obvious but unprovable - from the paperwork of the magistrate, or a loophole that had been circumvented.

A crow of triumph distracted her once again and Toph started, losing her mental grip on her materials and forcing a long inclusion into the flawless link.

A mistake that would have to be chipped away bit by bit, because the diamond was too strong to just crumble away.

Supressing the urge to shriek Toph gave up and coiled the thin chain back into her pocket.

"What have you found now?" She asked, not even trying to remove the irritation from her voice.

"I cannot believe how pervasive this is," Katara repeated for the third time since she'd begun looking through the records. "The laws surrounding the nomination and powers of magistrates are like a maze of tangled… nonsense." There was a crack as she smacked the paper with the back of her hand. "They're appointed by either the Fire Lord or the other magistrates and they have the job for life. The only way to dismiss one is through conviction of a crime, like murder or embezzlement."

"So why hasn't someone charged them with corruption?"

"Because the prefects who would hear the accusation are all puppets and any corrupt official would still have to be tried by another magistrate."

"I thought Sparky was putting in a new court system."

"Well he's trying, but these things take time and the cooperation of other officials since part of the reparations treaty was the limitation of the Fire Lord's power."

"Well that was dumb."

"That was honourable!" Katara protested with the exasperated tone of one who had fought this argument many times before. "He's trying to stop someone like Sozin from coming to power again in the future –"

"Would you relax Sugar Queen," Toph threw herself down on one of the hard wooden chairs and propped her feet up on the table. "So, if we can't get to them legitimately does that mean I get to crack heads?"

For a moment she actually thought Katara might agree. "….No if we do that it will stop this one man specifically. But not his organization and not for long. We need something else to charge him with, something that will put the whole system under scrutiny."

She fell silent for a moment, fingers tapping against her lips. "…Do you think… no, nevermind."

"What?"

"It's … what you said yesterday."

"About?" Toph barked, using up the last of her rapidly fraying patience.

"Treason."

Sometimes Toph forgot just how far Katara was willing to go with something if she believed it was for a good cause.

"Just think about it," Katara insisted, taking her silence as indicative of doubt. "It's the one thing that can give Zuko and Mai freedom to seize all their assets, investigate every lead without looking like they're disrupting the justice system for their own ends. If one of the magistrates was exposed as a traitor, all of the rest would be scrutinized. Their connections, their correspondence, everything. If we had enough information and reasonable doubt to have Mai investigate just one… we could bring down the whole Crimson Spear Tong."

Toph blinked uselessly. "This all seems to hinge on the idea that we can frame a civil servant for treason."

"Not _frame_," Katara tossed off her concerns. "They're criminals. I'm sure we can find something."

Toph leaned forward, turning her whole body to make it obvious that all her attention was bent in total focus on the waterbender, and steepled her fingers. "So what you want to do, essentially, is infiltrate the estate of a prominent public official and somehow find and retrieve enough evidence which may not actually exist in order to have him convicted of other crimes he most certainly guilty of because he is a major player in a massive crime syndicate?"

"It's the right thing to do." Katara said stubbornly.

She didn't grin so much as bare her teeth. "You know it's times like these that remind me why we're friends. But," She held up a hand to forestall the soft-hearted declaration that was sure to come after any affirmation of their friendship. "The whole Fire Nation saw us today at that stupid ceremony. This isn't like when we snuck through here as kids. If the future Fire Lady gets caught breaking and entering there's going to be trouble."

"So we go in disguise. Like the Blind Bandit and the Painted Lady."

"Sweetness I appreciate your enthusiasm for my rumble persona but the Blind Bandit is still just me with an armband. And your masterful disguise barely fooled Twinkletoes."

Katara sniffed dismissively. "I'll have you know that the real Painted Lady totally approved."

"I'm sure the woman that no one but you could see was very nice about it." She said soothingly and grinned because, sight or not, she _knew _Katara was glaring at her.

"You are right though, we're too distinctive for a disguise like that now. We need something with more coverage," Katara snapped her fingers and snatched up Toph's hand.

* * *

Iroh had once mentioned in passing to Katara that the Fire Nation had kept a great deal of seized writings and artefacts from the decimated Air Nomads. Since the official stance of the government was that the 'Air Nation' had been warlike and barbarous these things were kept safe in the vaults beneath the palace. For one hundred years of war every piece of trophy or tribute brought back to the Fire Nation was stored away down there, alongside innumerable cultural treasures.

Zuko had invited a historian of every nation to the palace vaults in order to identify and catalogue each item, but the task was simply monumental. A whole team had been put to work on separating out the Air Nomad artefacts for Aang and after six years of work they were still nowhere near finished.

Before Katara could call out to the diligent academics at the far end of the long, low ceilinged vault, Toph used the grip she still had on her hand to yank Katara behind an enormous ceramic vase on one side of the room, sliding and ducking as though they were trying to hid from enemy soldiers. Katara dug in her heels to protest but Toph dragged her inexorably forward and she quickly gave up trying to explain that they were allowed to be down here. Instead she took the lead again and wove them to-and-fro between displays and piles of priceless treasure, keeping to the shadows and letting herself get wrapped up in the game, her heartbeat racing as though they would be arrested rather than bowed to if they were caught.

"Masks." She explained, as they skidded to a halt deep in the lowest levels of the palace vaults before a display of ancient kabuki costumes; archetypes from long forgotten styles of Fire Nation theater.

The relics around them were all clearly fire in origin, though their designs were so old as to be almost unrecognizable. Katara held her torch higher, trying to press back the unsettling gloom which was only made worse by the leering empty eyed masks. Dust had gathered in endless layers, thick enough for Toph to bend off the folds and ridges of the fired ceramic faces. Some of the shapes were very traditional and plain, some elaborately carved and painted - their colours still vibrant even under the dirt.

A red oni grinned demoniacally from a hook above the table displaying the rest of the disguises. There was a lighter space on the wall next to it where the red spirit's blue counterpart must have hung at one point, though the other mask had clearly been gone a long while. The red painted porcelain seemed lonely without its counterpart, so Katara levered her torch into a nearby wall bracket and pulled it free. The carmine ribbons fastened snugly behind her head and she half turned to Toph for her opinion before remembering the blind earthbender wouldn't be able to give it.

"I like this one." Toph said suddenly, cradling a neat porcelain oval to her cheeks.

She had chosen the most basic of masks: a female Noh. White face and almost expressionless red lips; though the mask's eyebrows were slightly longer than typical, more realistic and less stylized, and Katara had never seen a Noh with those grey ovals around the eyes. It was fascinating and uncanny all at the same time.

The strangest part was that the mask had no eye holes to see out of. Any actor wearing it to perform would have been totally blind.

Katara repressed an unsettled shiver and smiled at the flat, false blue eyes.

"It's meant for you Toph."

* * *

Aang opened his eyes, exhaling heavily and feeling the steam from his breath crystalize in the frigid air. Instantly he tried to focus on melting the tiny fall of ice before it hit the frigid floor, because nothing slowed the crushing, choking, drowning panic like precision bending exercise.

"Avatar Aang?"

Naluk's gnarled hand landed lightly on his shoulder. Aang supressed the instinctive urge to jump into a defensive stance and turned to give the old sage a reassuring smile. From the look on Naluk gave him it hadn't worked.

The leader of the Northern Water Tribe's sages was the oldest man Aang had ever met. Even guru Pathik didn't have the same sense of permanence he radiated, a look of centuries piling up behind his eyes, written on the palimpsest of his papery skin. Naluk's voice was accented and rasping and he moved so slowly that it was all Aang could do sometimes not to run rings around him in impatience.

And he was not easily fooled.

Aang relented and rose to walk back with Naluk into the warmer living area of the fortress-temple, hearing the sound of the many acolytes who lived and worked beneath its multi-tiered roof grow louder as they ambled down the hall. "I was meditating," He offered. "Trying to call forth the spirit you were looking for."

"Call forth," It wasn't a question but Naluk followed it up with a long thoughtful hum that would have made Aang's cheeks flush with embarrassment if they hadn't been scarlet with cold already. _But you would not go and seek him out,_ hung unspoken in the air between them.

"Yes. There was something reaching-" _The Avatar state maybe?_ "-pulling at me… trying to get me into the spirit world."

"Back to where you should be."

"No," He protested. "No I'm needed here."

"Here," Naluk nodded in agreement. "And there. The Avatar is a bridge. You are of two worlds and that one needs you as well."

The voice he had heard calling to him had seemed so desperate. Not the calm assured authority that had summoned him unrelentingly at thirteen, but a cry for help.

But the last time Aang had gone into the eidolon realm the Avatar spirits had trapped him there, for five years that felt like a hundred, and he had sworn never to venture into the spirit world again. Sworn it and knew, no matter what he wanted, that it was a complete lie.

He would go. There wasn't any other choice.

Aang scrubbed at the back of his neck, considering the meditation hall behind him and its position exactly over a deep nexus of ocean currents that form a place of spiritual power. It was a place custom made for entering the Spirit World. He could slip through in there as easily as stepping across the threshold of a doorway.

Naluk was not watching him. The old man had shuffled away down the hall, clearly not expecting Aang to follow.

His stomach growled loudly and Aang was stuck with a sudden insatiable craving for dragonfruit. Appa was probably sick of all this ice and snow as well, flying bison preferred warmer climates. If they went to the Fire Nation he could get Zuko and Katara's advice – which would probably be the same as Naluk's but it would take him a whole week to get to them. Perhaps if he could contact Roku or Yangchen he wouldn't have to go into the spirit world at all.

There had to be another angle he could come at this from.

And if there wasn't he wanted someone around to pull him out.

* * *

_A/N - Exposition and worldbuilding for the win. The pace will pick up, stick with me. _

_I have a request: Are there any lonely, bored betas out there? The incomparable Cantare was amazing enough to stick with me through twenty-six chapters of Slow Path but I think she's earned a break, and no one should have to put up with my rampant spelling errors for so long. Send me a message if you are interested!_

_This chapter is dedicated to NubeRoja in the hopes that it answers her question, and to everyone who sent me an amazing encouraging review!_


	3. Nocnitsa

**III. Nocnitsa**

* * *

Katara moaned breathily and collapsed onto the rich carpet, her liquid movements turning jerky as she trembled.

"What…were you saying?"

Zuko's arm snaked underneath her and rolled Katara back over so she was draped across him again, her head on his bare chest. "Can't remember," He panted lightly. "Don't care."

That made her laugh. She tipped her head to place a kiss on his sternum and watched a smile break over his face like the rising sun. Arms still shaking Katara levered herself up enough to press her lips against his jawline, working her way up with featherlight kisses to his scarred temple.

Zuko cupped her face with one hand, pulling her back and brushing a thumb across her cheekbone, looking at her like he couldn't believe she was real.

Then she moved and he hissed, the noise dissolving into a chuckle. "If you want more I need a minute," He groaned, in pain this time, shifting against the floor. "I think you bruised my spine."

Katara quirked an eyebrow at him. "I've got a few bruises of my own that say we're even."

She rolled away and stretched, flinching when her hands touched the sculpted bronze of the footboard where it had turned red hot under Zuko's grip. He reached out to suck the heat from the metal and sat up, bracing his back against it and pulling her close to him. Her shoulders lay flush against his chest and she could feel his racing pulse slow.

"Where are we anyway?" He asked, running his hand idly over her collarbone, down between her breasts to her stomach.

"Second floor guest wing," She murmured, tracing her fingers along the creased lines of his free palm. "Zuko?"

He made a questioning sound but didn't speak, tracing rings around her bellybutton with one warm fingertip.

"Do you think they'll really let us get married?"

The motion stopped instantly. "They don't have a choice." Zuko practically growled, pressing his lips against her nape and planting a sucking, branding kiss there. "I'm not letting you go."

"But what if….what if I did something really stupid?"

"Then we'll fix it," He craned his neck so that he could look up into her face, shaggy black hair sticking up at preposterous angles where it had become matted with sweat. "I am the Fire Lord you know."

Zuko obviously expected her to laugh, but Katara couldn't banish her worries so easily. "But what if I-"

"Katara," He breathed, spinning her in his arms to bring them face to face. "I trust you. You're smart and brave and compassionate. You are much better than I am at doing the right thing." He leaned in close and kissed her passionately, punctuating each phrase with his lips. "You're going to be an amazing fire lady and we're going to have a beautiful wedding and before we're married I am going to take you in every single room of this palace." Katara's toes were curling when she finally broke away to gasp in air.

"Except your room."

"Because we'll only ever be together there as man and wife." He whispered against her mouth.

It was an old plan of theirs, an old promise, but it made her stomach leap and twist every time she heard it. Katara shifted closer reaching around to drag her nails down his back. "And because your people are crazy and don't believe the fire lady should have sex before marriage."

"And that." He nodded, setting her body aflame as he slid his hands over her skin.

"Wait a minute," Katara pulled back, narrowing her eyes. "Who said anything about taking me? I seem to recall _you_ were the one begging me never to stop five minutes ago."

Zuko gave her a look of disingenuous confusion. "I have no idea what you're talking about," Flashing her a wicked smile he leaned forward and scraped his teeth over the spot on her neck that always made Katara's knees buckle and ran his hands up to her chest. "Maybe my memory needs refreshing."

She arched under his ministrations and pressed him back down. "Shouldn't we go to another room?"

Zuko glanced around appraisingly. "There are so many untried surfaces in this one." She captured his lips again, moving to his neck when he pulled away. "Katara?"

"Yes?" The word was more strangled then she'd intended.

"I love you."

She stopped moving, pinned by his golden eyes - vivid as fire in the slanting afternoon sunlight. Burning once again under his tempestuous passion, awed as always by the intensity of his devotion, Katara was reminded again that she never could guard her heart from Zuko.

"And I love you."

She kissed him again, slowly and deeply; inevitable and irresistible as the tide. The air grew heavy with heat and moisture as his touch turned from idle to deliberate and focused.

"Katara?"

"Mmm?" She licked and bit at the hollow just behind Zuko's ear, not pleased at how coherent he remained.

"You and Toph didn't blow anything up did you?"

Katara reached down to distract him properly, smiling at his strangled cry. "Not yet."

* * *

The paint was barely dry on the cool white oval of her mask when Katara slipped through the stone tunnel Toph had bent from the ornamental garden that the royal suites were arrayed around, far beneath the palace, and out into a public park beyond the high white walls.

In the end she had kept the red oni, but decided against wearing it for this little venture. Instead she and Toph were going to play the same spirit.

She had retrieved an everyday Noh mask for herself and added grey circles so that it matched Toph's chosen disguise. With a few delicate touches of paint and Katara's own blue eyes peeking out their facades were almost identical. As long as they didn't stand close enough that the height difference between them was noticeable they might appear as the same spirit manifesting itself in separate places.

She had sent Toph out earlier that day with a vague concept of her measurements and a promise to ask the shopkeepers for only black clothing. The earthbender had been forced to take an honour guard, but the nice thing about Toph was that everyone in the Fire Nation palace had long since learned not to question any of her strange whims, and as a result almost nothing she did was ever remarked on.

The tight black clothing gave her an easy range of movement and concealed her ankle to throat. Combined with the long black wig she'd had procured, the two of them were practically indistinguishable when Toph took her hair down.

The park was dark and still. For most of the Fire Nation the weather this time of year still constituted winter temperatures after the sun went down. From one corner of her eye Katara caught Toph in a shiver and rolled her eyes. She may have spent more winters away from the South Pole than there in the years since they'd brought down Ozai, but spirits help her if she ever became that soft.

Beyond the trees she could see warm pools of light and movement as revellers bustled from restaurant to tavern talking and laughing. The equinox festival was, by and large a solemn occasion, but for the average citizen there was no reason not to celebrate.

Back in the palace Zuko, Ursa and Iroh were obligated to perform the rites to honour their ancestors and the previous Lords of the Fire Nation. Katara had removed herself as diplomatically as possible., remembering suddenly why she and her brother had only ever arrived on the last day of the festival. Ozai would never stop being Zuko's father but she could not bring herself to pay respects to such a monster.

Instead, she and Toph were out to break some rules.

Drawing water from the willow shaded ornamental stream Katara bent a heavy mist into the air. She couldn't direct it without Aang's airbending to assist, but the wind sweeping down the inner slopes of the caldera that formed the city walls was strong enough to spread the thick fog through the streets after a few moments.

Behind her Toph crouched, pressing her hands and feet against the earth. Instead of the soft leather boots she wore, Katara had found Toph a pair of black knee high stockings, cutting away the soles and leaving only a thin strip just below the rise of her heel to disguise the fact that her feet were bare. Toph's skin was usually black enough with dirt to disguise her pale complexion from a casual observer. She sunk her hands up to the wrists in the dirt, listening.

"Anything?" Katara whispered, unable to contain her impatience.

"Not…" Toph trailed off. "Wait- yes! Four men around a fifth, moving like fighters. The fifth one just hit the ground, the rest are moving in. Three blocks," Her arm came up, pointing vaguely south. "Warm up act Sugar Queen."

Katara dropped out of her bending stance and handed Toph the extra pair of gloves on her belt. "Let's go."

* * *

She took to the rooftops. Scaling the nearest shadowed building the way Suki had taught her, Katara was once again grateful for the muscles six months of practice sparring against Zuko had helped her rebuild. The streets in this part of town were narrower than those delineating the estates close to the palace, but the height differences between them still had her rolling to absorb the impact of her fall on the final jump.

The inside of her porcelain mask grew uncomfortably hot and damp as she sucked in air, ducking her head over the edge of the peaked tiles to the alleyway below. There were five antagonists now, their victim had clearly been putting up a good fight, but he was flagging.

A slight tremble rolled through the earth beneath their feet and Katara leapt from the roof.

She hit the first man in the upper back with both feet, using his fall to slow her own downward momentum and landing in a crouch on his back. His four compatriots stood staring at her slack jawed for an instant before her hands shot out, catching the one on her left in the throat hard with the web between her thumb and index finger she slammed the heel of her other hand into the solar plexus of the thug on her right. The first reeled back gasping but the second moved in to attack. Smoothly she flowed around his wild haymaker, checking her instinct to incorporate bending into the motion. The man staggered forward, off balance with the force behind his blow and Katara turned her spinning movement into an elbow strike against the base of his skull that sent him crashing into the far wall of the alley.

Keeping her movements calm and measured she turned her blank white mask towards the last two thugs. With a shout of alarm they scrambled to escape the narrow street.

And ran right into her again.

Or at least that's what they must have thought. While she had held the thug's attention, Toph had bent herself almost soundlessly from the ground behind them. They stared at her for a long moment, unable to process what was in front of them. Toph tipped her head slightly to one side in a sharp movement that even Katara would admit looked distinctly unsettling. The musclebound men jerked their heads back to where she had been standing and Katara threw herself neatly behind a pile of crates, just fast enough that the men were greeted by their unconscious fellows and a dark, empty alley.

Toph swept her arms in to deliver a sharp strike to the outside of their heads - an almost mocking attack, as though to remind them they had an enemy to face – bringing her knee up into the closest thug's groin hard enough that he doubled over and fell away.

She kicked him brutally in the face on the way down.

The last man seemed to think that discretion was the greater part of valour, tearing his eyes away from the sight of his friend's fallen body to run away from Toph as she advanced on him. Katara allowed the creep just enough momentum to clothesline himself on her outstretched arm.

His head made a sickening crack against the cobbled alley.

Toph sunk herself back into the earth, but the rude hand gesture she threw Katara on the way down made it clear she wasn't pleased about only getting to take out one.

Katara was more concerned about their victim. The man was huddled against the wall with his arms folded protectively over his head. There was a deep gash along one, bleeding from elbow to wrist and she could see heavy bruises forming where his shirt had fallen open, which might mean his ribs were cracked. Her hands twitched, wanting to summon water and heal him, but she and Toph had agreed, not to do anything that might tie this spirit persona back to their real lives.

Instead she put a gentle hand under his elbow and guided him back to his feet. The poor man instinctively flinched away at the strange specter of her mask but his fear was abandoned when he got a look at the prone bodies of his attackers. He bowed, gawped and bowed again awkwardly. Katara couldn't help but wince along with him beneath her disguise when the movement clearly irritated his injuries, but he managed to run off at a fairly impressive pace so she assumed he would be fine.

She was more interested in gleaning what she could from their defeated foes. Bending down she hauled up the man whose throat she'd damaged, shoving him hard against the wall and slamming two of the knives in her belt through his clothing and into the suddenly soft stone.

She took a step back and pitched her voice low in the back of her throat, trying to make it resonate and sound sepulchral.

"Who do you work for?"

"What the hell are you?" The man rasped.

In response, Katara formed ice claws on her fingers inside her gloves, swiping them across his face hard enough to draw four parallel lines of blood.

"No one," He spat. "We're independent. Just out to make a little gold."

Katara almost shrieked when a hand wrapped around her ankle and tapped twice.

She brought her mask closer to his face, close enough that she could feel the damp from his breath beading on the outside of the porcelain, and pressed her fingers to his cheek in a gesture that might have been loving if it weren't for the claw hovering a hair's breadth from his eye.

"Don't lie to me." The words were a whisper.

"Alright! Alright! His name is Huang, guy calls himself the Tortoise. We're just muscle for his protection racket."

"Where?"

"Trader's quarter, lower east side– I swear that's all I know!"

One tap against her ankle.

"Be good," Katara instructed, stepping back for enough range to land a kick on his temple. "I'll be watching."

Before she could move a brick wormed its way free of the wall and dropped hard against the man's skull. He slumped, insensible, held up only by her knives through his clothing.

"Toph," Katara griped, spinning on her heel. "We said no bending!"

Her partner rose smoothly from beneath the street, brushing dust off her black clothing. "Oh come on Sugar Queen, it's not like he saw where it came from. Besides you knocking him out without touching him is a way more impressive spirit power than kicking him in the head. It will help make up for your total lack of pithy lines," She put her hands on her hips.

"What?"

"He gave you the perfect opening: 'What are you'? Come on that was gold. You should have said 'I'm your worst nightmare,' or something."

"Toph," Katara hissed. "The spirits do not do _smack talk_!"

The earthbender sniffed. "Well they should, it makes you quotable. Did you learn nothing from Earth Rumble? Vigilantism is all about brand management."

"Helping people, Toph! This is supposed to be about helping people."

"Well that too." She admitted, kicking at one of their unconscious assailants. "So we're going after the Tortoise."

"As soon as we figure out what to do with these cretins."

Toph's amusement was audible in her voice even to Katara. "Do you know where we could find some rope?"

* * *

Finding this 'Huang the Tortoise**'** had been difficult – The lower east section of the Traders District was known to cater to any taste or desire. Anything in the four nations could be found here if one could pay for it, from artic seal jerky to forged avatar relics. As a result there were shops that stayed open all night long. And where there were people working, there were restaurants to cook for them and watering holes to drink in after a long night. Even as the bells tolled two in the morning there were people wandering the streets. It had been a long time before Toph noticed the vibration patterns of guard teams moving outside of a storefront that did not appear to be selling anything. – Once they had found him, though, everything became a lot more fun.

Toph had sunk them both into the ground half a street away, sliding them right past the hired muscle walking the perimeter of Huang's establishment and up through the floor of his back room.

"Seven," she breathed right next to Katara's ear. "and one fat hippo-cow that I think is Huang."

"I can get the lanterns." Katara offered.

Toph cracked her knuckles. "That means they're mine."

"Alright, but I'm handling the interrogation."

"Will you be more menacing?"

"No."

It really was astonishing how much Toph could communicate with a blank mask not speaking.

"Toph, _no_."

She threw up her hands. "Alright you do the talky, talky. Lie detector?"

"Wouldn't be able to do it without you." Katara nodded, shifting her concentration to water sources in the other room as Toph silently opened the door just enough for her to see. Bending the traces of water vapour in the air made quick work of the sputtering candle flames. Huang's thugs drew their weapons in panic as the room was plunged into darkness.

Toph let out a low rolling chuckle, dripping with menace and slid without a sound into the newly black room. By the time the firebenders remembered themselves she was standing at the center of the small office, her mask blank and terrifying in the flickering light.

"Boo." She deadpanned.

_She'll be making melon lord jokes next_. Katara couldn't help but roll her eyes at Toph's theatricality, flinching away when a man twice her size came crashing through the half open door beside her. She struck him hard twice across the face; making sure he wasn't going to get up again, before peering around the doorframe to keep an eye on her partner in crime.

Without her bending Toph had to be more careful about her opponents. There was no denying her strength but the height difference still placed her at a natural disadvantage. The firebenders were the first to go. One she hurled through the door near Katara and the second she seized roughly by the collar of his robe, yanking his head into a forceful collision with the sharp edge of the desk; leaving both the wood and his forehead streaked with red and plunging the room into darkness.

Katara couldn't see to help her now, but it didn't matter. Without light the men were easy prey.

When the sound of pained cries and crunches of impact stopped Katara stepped out into the center of the room, exactly where Toph had been standing when the lights went down, and whipped the cover off the spare lantern she'd found on the shelf next to her hiding place.

Toph had been right when she called Huang a hippo-cow, the man had the look of a predator subsumed by soft living, he'd obviously been an enforcer himself at one point but his muscles had long since been couched by fat. Not a very good enforcer, either, from the way he was cowering in his chair.

Katara had been enmeshed in the world of international politics almost since she had left the South Pole. She had taken her seat on the Council of Four Nations at eighteen, and quickly become its most respected, influential member. If there was one thing she knew how to do by this time, it was read people.

This man fancied himself the biggest fish in the bay, but larger animals prowled the oceans and he was only safe as long as he stayed out of their territory. The Tortoise thought she was the agent of a darker power, here to send a message. What she needed to get out of him was a list of his 'employees', the name of the man he took orders from and the name of the man he was afraid of.

He seemed ready to tell her most of it himself.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"I am not to be questioned." Katara intoned. Toph squeezed her ankle; she wasn't sure whether it was in approval or annoyance but her focus remained on their mark.

"Did Yao send you? Tell him I can get his money – I can! I'll have it by tomorrow!" He was cowering now. "Please, just tell Yao Chung I need a little more time."

So Yao was the man giving him orders.

"How many are you?"

"I have twelve teams of four collecting. They're out tonight."

Two taps against her foot. Katara decided to try Toph's menacing head tilt.

"Alright seven," Huang wailed. "I've only got seven but here," He scrambled in his desk for a list. "Those are the shops under my protection. If you give me till tomorrow I can get more out of them, enough to pay Yao back!"

"I am here," The low, resonant voice was getting easier all the time. "To shut you down."

There was real fear in the man's eyes now. "You're here from Consul Tei Khan?" he said the name in a whisper.

Katara wanted to reach across the flimsy desk and shake this man until her answers fell out, but the way Huang had said the man's name, in such a tentative whisper meant that this Consul was little more than a boogeyman to the Tortoise. Tei Khan might be pulling the strings but Huang was only a thug.

"Don't let me catch you again."

Instead she clenched her teeth and grabbed him by the hair, every muscle in her body tensing and twisting to add force behind the blow she struck dead center on his nose.

Huang's head snapped back so hard he slammed it against the top of his chair and knocked himself unconscious.

Hissing in pain, Katara cradled her abused hand and bent water from the rusted teapot in one corner to heal her quickly bruising knuckles.

"Hey," Toph teased as she uncurled herself from the floor. "No bending."

"How were my one liners?" She tucked the list Huang had offered her into the folds of her shirt.

"Terrible."

"Well it looks like I'll have a chance to get better," She mused. "We've got tomorrow's work cut out already."

"Same treatment on these ones?"

Now it was Katara's turn to crack her knuckles. "Oh definitely."

* * *

Toph was the custodian of many memories not her own.

She had walked through the mind of the Avatar and shades of him were with her still.

Though she could not hold them or walk them as she might her own memories, sometimes Toph could recall sunrise and moonlight and the colour of his eyes; things that rose unbidden to the surface of her thoughts. And like a half remembered dream she knew the voice that curled around her with the chitinous noise of an endless looping insect.

"Hello there."

Toph sucked in a desperate breath through her teeth as she woke violently, her jaw clenched tight with the effort of remaining expressionless.

* * *

_A/N: Newtype Omega was nice enough to volunteer to be my Beta, so a big thanks is in order there! Thank you as well to everyone who gave feedback, it's always nice to hear from you. _


	4. Fylgja

**IV. Fylgja**

* * *

The sun couldn't get into her eyes but the raucous chirping of enthusiastic birds was enough to make Toph want to scream. She groaned, rolling over to cover her head with a pillow.

She had apparently discovered a flaw in their grand plan.

After spending every day of the last six months being woken by noisy excitable children she hadn't expected only four hours of sleep to make her feel quite so much like her head was full of sand. Fortunately it didn't much matter if she couldn't keep her eyes open. Still, Toph couldn't help but wonder how Katara was managing.

This was not shaping up to be much of a vacation.

Scraping the sleep from her eyes, Toph dressed with more than her usual care and practically sprinted to the conservatory.

"Good morning," She was greeted by a warm voice, unsuccessfully trying to disguise amusement at Toph's headlong rush into the room.

Toph pretended she hadn't heard and gathered the remains of her dignity to sit. The air under the bronze and glass lattice of the conservatory celling was humid, tropically warm even in the cooler Fire Nation springtime.

This room was one of her favourite in the palace. Some long forgotten royal had decorated the walls and floor with a tapestry-like pattern of inlay in different types of stone. An enormous map of the Fire Nation dominated the center of the room, while all around it flora and fauna were picked out in jasper and carmine and lapis.

When they had first found the long abandoned room, only a few months after Ozai's defeat, she had spent an entire day stretched out on the floor with Sokka and then later Katara and Aang, having her friends explain that piece of onyx was the shape of a dragon, and that feathery twist of adventurite formed the shape of an unagi. Giving her names for shapes she would never see.

It hadn't occurred to her that the reason the conservatory had been locked up was because it had been someone else's favourite place.

"Jasmine or white peach?"

"Which one is better at waking you up?" Toph asked.

Ursa poured, her voice indulgent as she handed Toph a steaming cup. "Jasmine."

She hummed in appreciation and let the tea smooth her sleep roughed throat while Usra nibbled neatly at what smelled like fruit salad, ready to simply eat in silence if Toph was not inclined to talk.

That was one of the most amazing things about Zuko's mother; her almost preternatural ability to understand what people needed. Ursa claimed that it was training more than natural aptitude, but Toph would always be grateful for someone who didn't feel the need to make small talk.

No one had really expected her and Ursa to get along.

Parental figures were not Toph's strong suit, and mothers in particular seemed to hold a talismanic significance for her friends that she had trouble understanding.

At fifteen Toph thought she knew everything about what a mother was supposed to be; Bossy and controlling, loving, but slightly belligerent about it. Ursa was none of those things. Her re-entry into her son's life was not an intrusion, only an addition.

Ursa was sweet and compassionate and it was obvious that she loved her children deeply. But it quickly became clear that in the years following her disappearance Zuko had, perhaps, over-remembered her gentility or never known that she had a tongue sharper than Suki's golden fans.

The former Fire Lady wasn't a bender, or a warrior but she was nonetheless a formidable force. A grand master of the Golden Peonies - sister society to the White Lotus - who had worked to keep people safe during the war.

Ursa was the first mother Toph had met outside Katara, who seemed like a person.

Looking back on the realization she couldn't help but feel foolish, but the idea had rocked her adolescent world. The concept of parents not just as unreachable abstractions who could hurt or heal with a well-chosen word, but as people in their own right was something Toph had never taken the time to consider.

It was Ursa, without even speaking a word on the subject, who led Toph home time and again to try and develop a bond of more than just blood with her parents.

It hadn't really worked.

They still tried to make her a lady, and treated her as though she might shatter at any second and she still drove them to distraction, but Toph no longer took their disagreements as wilful attacks on who she was.

After all they were very different people.

Ursa, though, seemed to understand her better and Toph could never resist someone who was so thoroughly excellent at making fun of Zuko.

So when they were both in the palace Toph made a point of joining the Dowager Lady for breakfast in the conservatory they both adored.

"Restless sleep or bad dreams?"

Toph touched her barely brushed hair self-consciously, wondering just how frightening she looked if it warranted a mention. "Dreams I think," She tried, but couldn't conjure up a memory of what had woken her in such a panic. "I can't really remember."

"It's that time of year," Ursa said. "The whole world is shifting with new life and so close to the equinox the walls between our plane and the spirit realm are thin."

Toph downed the last of her tea and reached out to serve them both more. "And I thought it was the fancy cheese I ate before bed."

Ursa laughed, the sound rich and smooth as velvet. "It might be wise to avoid dairy late in the evenings. Either way it might make tomorrow night more interesting."

"Tomorrow?"

"I forgot you're not usually here for this part of the festival. Yesterday," She explained. "We honoured our past leaders. Tonight we will make obeisance to the heroes of our nation and tomorrow we will tell stories to appease malicious spirits."

"You tell ghost stories as part of your spring festival?" Ghost tales were for autumn, as far as she was concerned. For when the cooler breezes of impending winter could slide like an icy touch down ones spine. Or, at least that was always the line she had used to make her students jump when they stayed up long after curfew.

"It will be nice to have new storytellers this year," Ursa continued. "Zuko and Iroh have heard all mine a hundred times. And of course Azula never cared for ghost stories unless they frightened her brother."

"Huh," Toph picked at her breakfast, too unsettled to eat and uncomfortable discussing Azula as though she was a fond memory. "I thought you only honoured dead family members."

"That is for sunset on the equinox proper. Before the feast, will you be sitting vigil with Iroh again this year?" The question was cautiously offered.

"I know it's a little strange," Toph owned. This wasn't something they had discussed before.

"Not at all," Ursa soothed. "When memories are shared, grief is often halved. I know he appreciates having you there." Her voice turned teasing. "I daresay that if Lu Ten was still with us, the old dragon would be trying to play matchmaker between the two of you."

Toph made a face. "I think one heathen marriage is probably all this nation can stand."

"You're not wrong there," Ursa sighed and sat back, cradling her delicate china cup. "One of the best things about Ba Sing Se was I didn't have to destroy so many vixens socially when they started in on my daughter in law."

"Sweetness is tough enough to handle them." With very pointy icicles if Katara had her way.

"I see a lot of myself in her," She mused. "I'd like to give her a chance to hold onto her-"

"Soul?" Toph interjected around a mouthful of tropical fruit.

"Precisely. She and Zuko are both so bold. They'll find a way to make this country whole again if they have to fight each and every criminal personally."

She managed to cover her mouth before her bark of laughter sprayed food across the table, but Toph had the distinct impression that Ursa noticed the blood draining from her face.

* * *

Toph had spent the rest of the day fighting off a general sense of unease and a restlessness that pricked at her skin. She couldn't seem to practice or meditate; she couldn't even nap, though she had ruined the training courtyard creating the perfect earthen hideaway.

Zuko and Iroh spent the day in meetings, Katara was dealing with correspondence and Toph was left to her own devices desperately wishing her students were around to badger.

By the late afternoon she'd decided that her best course of action would be to strike out on her own. Toph had left a serving girl with a message for Katara to meet her in the park at midnight and set off in search of the nearest bar with a Pai Sho table hoping that the White Lotus in the city would have information on the Crimson Spear Tong.

She hadn't counted on wandering into one of the city's so called 'loyalist bars'; those oh so pleasant establishment's frequented by those who had supported the war and were still generally disapproving of the new regime.

She had known something was wrong the moment she stepped through the doorway and all activity around her stopped. Toph was used to being an arresting personality but she couldn't usually bring a room to a standstill until she opened her mouth.

It had suddenly seemed crucial that she remember whether she was wearing earth kingdom clothing or something from the Fire Nation.

She'd made it to the bar without incident which had boded well, but there had been some kind of dice game going on right next to her with a really buff sounding guy lording the fact that he was winning over everyone, and impulse control had never really been her strong suit.

So she had dropped her earrings down as bankroll and proceeded to first take all their money and then mock them mercilessly for being beaten by a blind girl like a sun-warrior drum.

Then someone had started shouting about that little blind scam artist 'The Runaway', and Toph decided she was getting much too well known in the Fire Nation.

The patrons had demanded their money back.

In retrospect 'Come get it you pansies' probably wasn't the least inflammatory thing she could have said.

Turns out they weren't terribly fond of outsiders there, especially not when they had been repeatedly beaten at a fixed dice game.

She readjusted her position against the metal bars, softening the stone bench beneath her into something more comfortable. The district's clock tower solemnly intoned one hour left until midnight.

Somehow Toph didn't think Katara would be pleased if she had to come bail her out of prison before they could go _stop_ criminals.

The boy she was sharing her cell with squirmed a little, attempting to get comfortable himself. His heartbeat seemed jumpy, but no more than anyone who wasn't used to the inside of a prison cell she supposed. He didn't seem inclined to challenge her either, which was nice. Although he may have simply not known she was part of the original disagreement that had started the brawl. After all Toph hadn't thrown the first punch, she'd just ducked and let it hit the drunk behind her.

She was quite happy to throw the third punch though. And the fourth.

In fact she had pretty much been wiping the floor with anyone who came her way.

Earthbending had barely been necessary when her opponents were already so inebriated, and it was oddly satisfying just to break a bottle over someone's head. The local boys who had taken a shine to her feminine wiles backing her up hadn't hurt any, but she was just as happy to drop them when they got in her way.

Toph had her arm in a chokehold around some drunk's thick neck and was punching him repeatedly in the temple with her free hand when the City Watch came pouring in. She had been about to drop him and slink away when her vibration sight refocused and she realized she was the only one unscathed, standing in a ring of groaning, beaten adversaries.

"What?"

She had said finally, raising her hands into the air.

This kid she was sharing a cell with had been laughing so hard, Toph figured the Watch must have thought he was on her side. He hadn't seemed inclined to argue the point, and it occurred to Toph suddenly that this might be the easiest way to get the information she was after.

"So," She said without preamble. "You're not Shanyu are you?"

"Um, no," The young man said. "Who are you?"

"I'm the girl who was supposed to meet Shanyu at that bar. Do you know him?"

"Don't think so."

"He told me to meet him there," Toph spun the story out of nothing. "Said he had a business proposition for me, something about the Crimson Spear and a man named Yao Chung."

"Oh the Spear," The boy sounded more confident now, his heartbeat relaxing as he assumed she was a friend. "Yeah I heard they were hiring."

"You part of the tong?" She probed, trying to sound careless.

He shook his head, the back of his skull rolling against the wall. "Nah, my brother is. He says I'm too young to run."

"Brothers are like that," She smiled. "So you hear anything about the job?"

"Just that they're building up forces. Hiring everyone in sight and cracking down on anyone who isn't loyal to the Tong." He leaned forward, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Word is it's something political."

"What do you mean? Like a coup?" Toph strove for a relaxed tone, unable to stop herself leaning forward and pushing her hands against the stone bench, striving to hear a lie.

"I'm not sure," He ran both hands through his hair. "But, I mean, the Crimson Spear's got people everywhere. Even in the nobility. I guess they could…"

"Overthrow the Fire Lord?"

"No! Well I don't think so, but maybe." He trailed off.

"Well," Toph said because she had to say something. "That's a hell of a thing."

Her cellmate made a noncommittal noise of agreement and she just couldn't let the whole thing slide. "Do you hate the Fire Lord?"

"What?" He seemed shocked at the very idea. "No… he's, well he's the spirits blessed Fire Lord!" He deepened his voice theatrically. "Scion of Agni, Lord of ten thousand years, Son of Heaven. He and the Avatar stopped the war."

"And you don't think that's good?"

"Of course it's good!" He protested. "I used to have two older brothers you know."

There was a long pause followed by a heavy sigh. "That's why I want to join the Tong. Help Li work off his debt, since I'm the reason he came to the city."

"Why did you come?"

"Followed a girl." He chuckled half-heartedly.

"Bad breakup?" Toph asked absently, her mind still whirling at the possibility of a fully formed uprising against Zuko.

"Are there any good breakups? – But no it wasn't too bad. I just thought we were going to get married."

"That's rough buddy," She said without thinking. "Most of my friends are settling down."

"It's a strange feeling." His voice was sympathetic. "Do you not have a fellow?"

"Kind of. I like him but it hasn't really gone anywhere yet." Toph replied and then nearly had a heart attack when she realized she'd answered honestly.

"Not sure if you want to settle down?"

She laughed. "No, settling is the one thing I'm not worried about with him. It's just complicated."

"Is he married?"

"No." Toph snorted.

"Prefers men?"

Embarrassingly girlish giggles were trying to force their way out of her throat. "Not that I'm aware of."

"Is he," The young man asked in a whisper. "Water Tribe?"

Toph was positively in fits of laughter now. "No," She shot back. "He's the last of the airbenders."

Her cellmate was laughing too. "The Avatar, huh? You do aim high! Well," He said once he had gotten his breath back. "Whoever he is you should tell him how you feel. And if he says no you can come back and find me. I like a girl who's good in a bar fight."

Toph smiled at him in what she hoped was a winning manner. "What's your name?"

"Zhi."

"Well Zhi," She stood, tucking one elbow close to her side and pulling her other arm across her body in an arc. A rock the size of her clenched fist shot out of the wall to her right and winged Zhi hard in the temple before he had time to do much more than blink. He crumpled back against the wall without a sound. "It was nice talking to you."

Outside the clock was striking midnight. Toph leapt lightly into the air, coming down in a crouch that opened the back wall of the holding cells neatly. Barely taking the time to close it up behind her she took off into the night.

It was time to go find Katara and get away from all this mushy feelings talk.

* * *

He struggled desperately against the meaty hands that held him in place, knowing all the while that it was a futile effort but unable to stop fighting when confronted with the panic on his wife's face.

Dimly he was aware that he was begging, for mercy or justice. The Tong thugs ignored him, their leader taking the time to shoot a smug grin at him as he dragged his filthy hands over his wife's chest.

The blow hit him across the face like a sledgehammer.

A white-faced shape in black stepped slowly out of the mist. The two Tong pinning him from either side were yanked back into the shadows. He spun around; lifting his hands tremulously into a fighting stance but only empty shadows greeted him.

His wife's soft cry brought his attention snapping back to her.

The thugs were down, strewn across the darkened street and standing over her in protective vigil was a blank faced spirit with flowing black hair. The spirit nodded at him and strode away into the dissipating mist, fallen enemies swallowed up by the earth in her wake.

"Thank you." He whispered into the dark.

It seemed that the spirits of justice were still listening.

* * *

"_Were they on the list?_

"_No, they were just for fun." _

"_We can't right all the wrongs in this city in one night Toph."_

"_I bet we could crack all the skulls."_

"…_I get to pick the next one."_

_

* * *

_

Her brother was going to kill her. She thought with the clarity of panic, her chest heaving with exertion as she tried to put on another burst of speed.

The black clad figure with the creepy white mask appeared in front of her out of nowhere and she barely had time to skid to a stop in shock before crashing headlong into it. She stood stock still for a moment, staring in poleaxed confusion.

A crashing sound behind her made her jump in shock, remembering suddenly that she was running for her life.

But the alleyway she'd sprinted through was quiet, her pursuers laid out unconscious or incapacitated. The terrifying being before her leans close and says "You're safe now."

The voice that emanated from the unmoving red lips was deep and strange but not cruel and suddenly the white face was no longer not horrific, but compassionate.

It reminded her achingly of her mother.

She bowed her head in reverence and when she looked up again the spirit was gone.

* * *

"_You're such a soft touch Sugar Queen."_

"_Oh like you would have left her there."_

_

* * *

_

She was short again. Work just hadn't been steady lately; the festival was always a slow time of year. No one went looking for fun when they thought the spirits were watching.

But he wouldn't accept excuses. Not when the other girls made their payments.

She cowered in place at the end of the line next to her beaten, worn sisters wondering how everything got so out of control. It wasn't even the work so much as Him - beating, threatening, keeping half the girls so strung out they didn't know or care who was putting it to them.

He shouted at her, waving around the knife she'd seen him use to cut the other girls who weren't able to bring in enough, but her fear was so all consuming that she couldn't understand what he was saying, couldn't do anything other than cringe and whimper and pray to anyone who might listen to someone like her.

A hand seized the razor sharp blade and crumpled the metal like paper.

The attached elbow drove back into his face with tremendous force. She could hear the sickening crunch of shattering bone beneath the impact and He fell with a sound like meat impacting stone, spasming on the cobbled road.

Her sisters had run screaming, she stood alone on the sagging veranda with a spirit, blank faced and impassive.

She was used to being scorned, spat on. She was a woman without honour, lowest of the low. But there was no judgement on the spirits face. Its false eyes did not see her shame or make her feel worthless. There was only that blank pitiless mask; utterly impartial.

"You are better than this," It said flatly, one hand held out towards her, offering the reformed blade. "Don't be helpless."

She stared at the knife for a long time. Her source of fear seemed so small and innocuous. In that gloved hand it was only a tool.

One she could use to shield her sisters.

She closed her fingers around the hilt and when she looked up the street before her was empty. Pressing her lips to the weapon's grip she swore herself to the dark lady of protection.

* * *

"_Toph."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_You could have been nicer about that."_

"_Angry is always better than scared."_

_

* * *

_

Yao Chung slid the bolt home on the door with a sigh of relief.

Reports had been pouring in about some dark spirit stalking his men; something malicious and unstoppable proceeded only by mist. As though that was any help in a city where chill spring air and rising heat from vents in the caldera warred to fill the night with steam and ocean breezes dragged fog up the mountainside. That coward Huang had disappeared from the capital that morning with a preposterous story about a masked assassin from the tong's leaders.

Yao could certainly believe that the Tortoise had made himself a liability but he was hardly dangerous to warrant a visit from a professional. Frankly Yao would have done the job for free.

But none of that stopped an icy shiver from crawling its way down his spine when the swirling mist thickened in the streets surround his offices.

He took a deep breath and threw himself down in one of the high backed chairs which flanked the fireplace, forming a ball of flame above his palm to ignite the wood and light the windowless room.

A hand reached over his shoulder and snuffed the fireball out.

"Hello Yao," A grip like iron wrapped around his forearms, securing him to his seat. "You've been doing very bad things to nice people."

* * *

Zuko blinked owlishly and shook out the paper he was holding before bending his head to reread it, as though the local intelligence report he had been handed with breakfast might change if he gave it a chance to rethink it's position.

"Do any of you know anything about this?"

Katara froze with her chopsticks halfway to her lips, but Zuko's calculating gaze was fixed firmly on his mother and uncle.

"Anything about what nephew?"

"This," He shook the paper for emphasis, reading off the report. "Several known or suspected criminals were found suspended from the gates of the trade and crafting districts stripped to their underwear. The prefect's notes say the men are claiming it was a masked spirit,"

Iroh choked on his tea, but seemed to recover quickly as Zuko continued. "A woman. Mother is this person one of yours?"

Ursa smiled, all innocence. "My sewing circle helps _victims_ of oppression. Challenging governmental authority is your uncle's speciality."

"Fighting evil in a mask is a job for young men." Iroh intoned loftily, the ghost of a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

"Wait, these guys got tied up naked to the top of a district gate?" Toph exclaimed, pointing almost at the paper with a wedge of melon. "Whoever this is, I like them already."

Katara kicked her sharply under the table, but Toph's grin never faltered. Her approval was only going to look suspicious. Sure enough Zuko's penetrating glare snapped to the smug earthbender.

"Toph where were you last night after dinner?"

"Sparky," She scoffed. "While I'm flattered by how awesome you think I am, even I couldn't tie people up that high on my own. Besides, last night I was in prison."

A shocked chorus of 'What!' instantly had Toph trying to cover her sensitive ears.

By the time Iroh and Ursa had been assured that she was fine, Katara had given her a lecture on diplomatic behaviour and Zuko had banged his forehead against the table in frustration about two dozen times, breakfast was over and not another word had been said on the subject of the masked spirit.

Katara had to hand it to her; Toph could come up with one hell of an alibi.

* * *

_A/N - I am offering a free drabble/oneshot on the paring or subject of your choice to anyone who can write me Toph/Alive!Lu Ten, because i find the whole idea hilarious. Also did everyone already know that the most famous military intelligence agent in Chinese history was named Dai Li?_

_Next chapter will come faster, but nothing gets one's pen moving like feedback!_


	5. The Myth Behind

**V. The Myth Behind**

* * *

It had taken most of the day for Toph to convince everyone she hadn't done something incredibly horrible to warrant her stay in the jailhouse, and even once she had convinced Sweetness and Sparky's family the whisper of gossip followed her through the hallways; Accusations of everything from treason to multiple murder to being caught in flagrante delicto with half the royal guard trailing behind her like the train on one of her mother's stupid gowns.

She had to admit it was pretty hilarious.

Sokka was going to laugh himself sick when he finally arrived.

It was the desire to thumb her nose at the gossipmongers more than anything which lead Toph to ignore the quite reasonably plain feeling dress the servants had laid out for her in favour of earth kingdom clothes barely a hair nicer than her training gear, topping the very comfortable ensemble off with her most expensive unnecessary jewellery for that extra dash of 'I'm rich enough to do whatever I want no matter what you think'.

Why anyone would want to dress up for the evening was a complete mystery to her. The night counted as a court function in the sense that courtiers would be attending, but who would want to dress up in order to spend a night around the fire telling ghost stories?

Though the Fire Nation aristocracy's definition of bonfire was a little different from the ones she and her friends had shared while exploring the world.

The whisper of silk and velvet on stone told her that most of the courtiers had opted for formalwear which probably suited the opulently carved marble chamber. The center of the room was carpeted in a wide circle, dominated at the center by a wide, shallow bronze bowl where a massive blaze crackled.

She caught the familiar sound of Zuko's steady powerful heartbeat and ensconced herself on a wide, embroidered pad that offered a little more solidity than the scattered fluffy cushions that the other partygoers perched on.

He passed her a goblet of some warm, heady drink, redolent of rosemary and slightly salted. Toph had to make an effort not to choke in surprise at the first taste and only tentatively tried a second sip.

"Funereal wine," Zuko murmured in her ear. "Drink it fast, it'll help."

Toph drained the glass in one long swallow, ignoring Katara's disapproving cluck as she sat down on her other side. The bitter flavour was totally opposite to the more common fire wines that were like liquid gold on the tongue. Here the warmth of the drink quickly faded into an icy burn that left her leaning closer to the fire's heat and completely ignoring Zuko's opening words.

The evening started off typically for a night of telling frightening stories. Tales of vicious murders, walking dead, and spirits of those long passed reaching back into the world to claim their destroyers were passed back and forth as each courtier took their turn; stories so time honoured that they failed to raise more than a perfunctory shiver.

It seemed that people waited until the wine had been flowing and the large bonfire-like pyre at the room's center had burned low to break out the really creative stories.

A noble lady offered a quite compelling rendition of the Alder King, which was an old earth kingdom story seldom heard outside of formal theater. Iroh and Zuko demurred - as was the right of the Fire Lords - but when the circle passed to Zuko's mother, Ursa rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

"_In the early days," _She began, pitching her voice low._ "When our world was close to the realm of the spirits, there lived a man who loved an actress. _

_Famed across the world for her skill, it was said that she had the ability to move men to the greatest highs and lows of emotion;_

_And no one had ever seen her without her mask."_

She could practically feel cool porcelain against her face. Katara tapped the stone lightly with her fingertips, half a hairsbreadth from Toph's hand, which was her substitute for a significant look; letting Toph know she was not the only one suspicious of Ursa's choice in ghost tales.

"_Still, the man went every night to the theater, spending his meagre pay on tickets in place of food. He became infatuated with the actress's grace, her kindness, the lift of her chin and the line of her throat. His desire for her consumed him and he wooed her desperately. _

_All the while the actress tried to deny him, she told him to find someone more worthy of his devotion, but he would not be swayed and eventually she grew to love him in return. _

_One night long after the curtain had fallen he came to her and for the first time removed her mask. Only to find that beneath the porcelain she hid a gruesome deformation. The graceful actress's countenance was a rotting, twisted mockery._

_Terrified and enraged at the betrayal he seized his knife and cut away her face, cursing her with every drop of blood. _

_When at last her struggles stopped and she lay still in his arms he wept to see the monster he'd become._

_Taking her mask to hide his shame from the world, the man told himself that he had never loved the hideous creature. _

_But her death tore a hole in his heart, and that emptiness hungered." _

The former Fire Lady had a good grasp of storytelling, pausing at all the right moments to keep her audience on tenterhooks. The Earth Kingdom had a variation of the legend, but Toph hadn't heard it since she was a child and it had lacked the detail with which Ursa described the madman's rampage.

"_He found another victim and then another, beautiful women at first, who reminded him of his slaughtered love and then those who challenged him, or whom he found interesting. The man steeped himself in dark magics and tore away their souls along with their faces. Using their life force to extend his own miserable existence he twisted into a creature of the dark waiting in the shadows to prey on the unwary and add a new soul to his collection." _

There was a collective shiver from the assembled Fire Nation nobility, as trace remnants of childhood fears surfaced in everyone's mind.

"We have similar legends actually," Katara's voice broke the quiet. "About soul stealers who were once men."

"Tell us one." Zuko requested.

"Well, I was going to tell a wendigo story," She prevaricated. "Because those ones always scared the pants off Sokka – my older brother," She clarified for the listening aristocrats, who chuckled obligingly. "But I'll try and remember how it goes."

Ursa was a pleasant storyteller, her cultured voice rich and smooth, but Katara was a woman of the Southern Water Tribe and when the winter snows packed in around them they told endless stories to ward off the darkness and remind themselves of what might be hidden in its shadows.

Her mastery showed with every chilling word.

"Those who threaten the tribe are not dealt with leniently under the laws of my people. But there are crimes so terrible they leave a mark on the world and create Funayurei who live under the blackest ice and only venture out to steal the souls of the unwary.

_Sikkua was a natural master of waterbending - Tide-touched, the tribe called her – and she was very close to the spirit world. Too close, the elders said. _

_On full moon nights she would venture alone onto the ice and let La's power guide her to do incredible things. But on the nights when the moon is dark even a powerful waterbender will return home to rest, for we wax and wane even as Yue does. _

_Under the new moon Sikkua would retreat to the safety of the tribe and her family, where the spirits could not call to her. _

_The Funayurei, however, are patient with their prey. _

_In the depths of winter there was a blizzard, the likes of which had not been seen for many decades. It buried the whole of Sikkua's village, trapping everyone in their homes. And it raged worse under the dark of the moon. _

_Though her fire burned warm and the wind swirled impenetrable outside the snug walls of her igloo Sikkua shivered with unease and tried to concentrate on her sewing. _

There was a rustle of speculation and shifting from the listening courtiers at the description of Water Tribe domesticity, but Katara's voice carried on, smooth and unhurried recapturing the attention of her listeners even faster than Ursa had; until their hearts beat slower or faster in rhythm with the cadence of her voice.

_It was the wind first, that let her know something was wrong. The cacophony of the raging snowstorm simply stopped, as though she had stepped into the eye of a hurricane. _

'_Sikkua…' _

_A dark and terrible whisper rose from all around her. 'I can see you.'_

_She tried to whip her head around, to tear her eyes away from the light of the fire and face her assailant. But that soft, malicious voice made her freeze. _

'_Don't turn around, Sikkua. Don't look at me.'_

'_What are you?' The young woman demanded. _

'_I have so many names,' Once again she tried to glance backwards but the voice was insistent. 'If you look at me you will die. I'm behind you Sikkua,' _

Toph knew, logically she _knew_ that there was no reason for her to find something like that frightening. She could look around and see nothing, because she was blind thank you very much, and it wouldn't matter if she was looking or not she wasn't going to be able to see anything, ever.

But there was something about that thought.

'_I'm _**_right _**_behind you.'_

Katara went on, relentless.

_Don't look, don't look at me. One look and you __**will **__die. I'm reaching out Sikkua. I'm so close. Don't turn around._

The idea that something was pressed right behind her, just couldn't sense it she couldn't see it, but it was there and the compulsion to spin around and reach out to find it and face it was nearly unbearable. The idea of some nameless terrible thing that waited in the darkness, skittering so close that it could breathe on her neck, it's intensity boring into the back of her head, unseen, unknown and the rigid locking terror of its calm insistence that she just not turn around.

'_Oh, I can touch you.' _

She could almost feel the touch of clicking segmented legs on her shoulder.

There was a tinkling crash as Toph's delicate porcelain cup shattered on the marble floor.

"Oh." Katara's voice was her own again, surprised and dismayed.

Then Toph was apologizing, Ursa was full of kindly reassurances that it was not an issue, a servant quickly moved to tidy the mess and the oppressive swirling malice in the air dissipated as though it had never been.

"What happened?" Asked Zuko, quieting the whispered discussions that had begun during the interruption.

Katara turned to look at him, her voice surprised. "Pardon?"

"What happened at the end of the story?"

"The next morning when the tribe awoke they saw that Sikkua's igloo was caved in, as though it had been abandoned for many weeks and the tundra was reclaiming it. Inside there was no sign of her, only a massive jagged hole the size of a person who had been pulled through fourteen feet of ice."

* * *

"Uncle?"

Iroh turned from the large fire that was warding off the chilling spring damp at the sound of Zuko's voice and the young Fire Lord couldn't help but smile just slightly.

It was so good to have the old dragon's council again. A sentiment he had been sure would never, ever cross his mind at seventeen; which still made him want to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment remembering the brat he'd been. Now he was grateful for any scrap of exasperating wisdom.

Zuko sometimes couldn't help but feel like he was just waiting for someone to call him out as a massive fraud.

The way they had kicked him all the way across the planet had given him a healthy respect for the power and capricious nature of the spirits and there was something about this vigilante who had appeared in his capital city on the week when the veil between worlds was at its most mutable that didn't sit quite right with him.

He knew to question the motives of people claiming to be spirits.

Zuko had worn an oni's guise before. He understood how well stealth and misdirection could be mistaken for the supernatural.

"Did you have a question nephew?"

Zuko jerked in surprise, having completely forgotten that he had begun an inquiry. "Do you think we need to be wary of this … thing walking the streets?"

Iroh stroked his beard pensively. "I have never known a spirit who would behave in such a way. To leave so many of those it takes vengeance on alive is unusual. And the way these thugs have been beaten speaks more of a human hand than the touch of a deamon." He gave Zuko a wry glance. "Perhaps this dark lady is a cousin of the infamous Blue Spirit?"

Zuko ducked his head, pinching the bridge of his nose but unable to stop a sheepish smile.

"Then again," Iroh continued. "To trifle with the spirits, or not treat them with respect invites unnecessary trouble. We can never truly know what it is they want."

"We can't..." the Fire Lord mused. "But the Avatar can."

"Isn't Avatar Aang supposed to be visiting the Northern Water Tribe for the next month?"

Zuko scoffed. "And miss the chance for a festival day here, Uncle? Aang may have changed, but he's still Aang."

"I have often found Master Pakku to be a little dour for my taste," Iroh agreed. "We never could get him into White Lotus music night; and he has such a lovely voice."

He rolled his eyes. "I'll write to him then." Zuko said decisively, frustrated by the question he couldn't seem to remove from his voice. But if Uncle noticed he gave no sign.

"I will call for a messenger hawk," He said, moving for the study door. "And inform the stable hands to double their feed stores. The Avatar's Bison eats almost as much as I do."

* * *

If one of Katara's waterbending students had been acting the way Toph was acting right now she would have sat them down for a long concerned talk. Toph probably would have hit them with rocks and told them to go home until they could get their head in the game. But Spirits didn't take the night off because they were feeling under the weather, and Toph would have more willingly submitted to swimming lessons than admit she couldn't handle things.

Going out exhausted and nervous like that was just asking for trouble, so Katara hadn't been honestly surprised when she fell through the roof.

While trekking out through the tunnel that Toph had been reopening each night, they had decided that it was time to go after their major target. With the superstitious made uneasy by the ghost stories and the majority of citizens remaining in their homes tonight the streets were clear and open for them.

It was time to go after Consul Tei Khan.

Tei Khan was a city magister, one of six to cover the districts of the fire capital and from the information that had been 'volunteered' through their victims Katara knew that he was the man running the show. She had called in a favour to get the location of the man's villa, but once they reached the outer wall Toph was able to bend it neatly open, sliding them right under the patrolling guards and into a courtyard where the shadows gathered thickly and a hidden fountain gurgled.

Toph was not a very good climber, but if the surface was stone or brick she could manage, if only barely. The sound of a pillar carrying them to the roof would have caused undue attention, and Tei Khan had his home under serious lockdown. Katara had just tugged Toph's last flailing limb over the lip of the roof when patrolling mercenaries paced their rout through the garden, scanning the rooftops carefully.

She cursed under her breath. Why was it that guards seemed to be competent when you most needed lazy fools?

That was when Toph had grabbed her arm in panic, just in time to pull them both down together as the ancient terracotta of the roof tiles gave way beneath their combined weight.

Katara barely managed to supress her groan as the two of them landed heavily on the balcony they had just scrambled past. Pulling herself up, she peered into the gloom of the room beyond, praying to any benevolent spirits out this night that they hadn't landed in the master suite.

It was an office.

"There's no one on this level." Toph said as Katara stepped into the room, crouched on the balcony and limned in moonlight as she pressed her hand to the stone floor.

Katara nodded and then remembered she wouldn't be seen. "That might be better, actually. If he never knows we were here, he won't have a chance to go to ground before we can send Zuko after him," she gave Toph a measuring glance. "Are you alright to keep watch?"

Toph rose quickly, and Katara had the distinct impression she would be flushed with embarrassment beneath her impassive mask. "Yes," She hissed. "I'm just tired Sugar Queen, I'm not helpless!"

Before Katara could offer an apology she was out the inner door, closing it behind her with a gesture that would have been a slam if they hadn't been sneaking through houses illegally.

She sighed and turned to the scroll cabinet behind the narrow, elegant desk. Snapping the conveniently left spark rocks together she lit the lamp, immediately turning the flame down to its lowest possible level, trying to minimize the chance of one of the patrolling men on the outer wall noticing its glow.

The Consul had an extensive accounting record. Katara couldn't understand more than half of the notations on the rolled sheets of parchment – financial records hadn't really been part of her education in a society dependant on the barter system and communal use - but she knew enough to recognize that this was all depressingly legal. She snapped the cap back onto the ninth paper covering river shipments and barely resisted the urge to curse.

Tai Kahn had been named by his associates, people who thought she could sense truth from lies and practically read minds, people who were scared enough to have no reason to lie. If he was overseeing all that, there would have to be some kind of record.

'_But...'_ She thought suddenly. '_He wouldn't want those records found.'_

Moving quickly, Katara began to run her hands over ever surface in the room, looking for a drawer with a false bottom or a hidden catch under the ornamental edge of the desk. The mahogany seemed solid through and through. Each scroll came free of its neat shelf without triggering a secret panel and the bookshelves seemed completely separate from the wall behind them.

She had almost given up in frustration when a flash of white behind the rattan lattice decorating the carved bottom of the scroll cabinet caught her eye.

Sure enough the whole side pane lifted easily free to reveal a hidden cache of correspondence and ledgers. Her arms full, Katara staggered to rise and drop her precious cargo onto the desk when Toph came rushing in like an artic whirlwind.

"People," She exclaimed in a half whisper, gesturing back towards the door. "We have to move!"

Dumping the documents into Toph's arms Katara replaced the false panel in an instant, scooped one arm around the petite earthbender's waist, crossed the room in three steps and hurled them both bodily over the balcony rail, franticly pulling the water in the courtyard fountain to slow their fall.

She landed awkwardly, Toph's extra weight on her side unbalancing them both and sending Katara wolftail over cookpot into the grass. Her arms came up automatically to shield her face, but it wasn't enough to keep the ancient ceramic of her mask from cracking under the impact, splitting into two moon pale halves and rolling away across the lawn.

"Ice and salt!" She cursed, snatching the fragments up as Toph's stamping feet opened the complex's outer wall for them, trying not to cut herself on the broken edges.

This was going to make things difficult.

The moment Toph sensed they were safe, Katara dragged them into the first shadowed alley they came across to right themselves. The two masks, both broken and unbroken went into an awkward bundle she formed from her own black overshirt, opting to keep the wig on and hopefully disguise her own lighter brown hair.

Toph passed her the pile of stolen documents as she wriggled free of her ninja costume. The first paper was a letter, newly written by the fresh creases on the paper and displaying the chop of a name that had Katara stepping out under the street lanterns, heedless of who might be watching her.

_Honourable Brother, _

_The last pieces are in place, on Petitioners Day we begin our work. _

_T__he Fire Lord should not have forgotten about Princess Azula. _

_

* * *

_

_A/ N: What is all this plotline nonsense? _

_From here on out no storyline, just fluffy smutty romance. _

_In all honesty, I'm sorry darling readers; I am trying to get to the good bits. And I promise there will be Aang in the next chapter, __**with**__ Toph even. _


	6. Reunion

**VI. Reunion**

* * *

Zuko woke feeling refreshed, happy and optimistic.

He was immediately suspicious.

He could count on one hand the number of times he had woken up feeling this good without the universe laying in wait to drop kick him in the face when he was least expecting it.

Carefully, Zuko went over the list of issues that had cropped up the day before, trying to recall whether or not everything had been handled; then all the long term problems and what steps were being taken to fix them and tried to pick out the general anxiety that came from being ruler of a massive, disgraced military power and what was his own ingrained tendency towards paranoia.

Katara would have laughed at him, but in some ways she understood. She too had lived her whole life with the specter of catastrophe looming over her.

Rising, Zuko stretched, schooling his breathing as he began to move in the forms of the simplest firebending katas; not putting any heat behind the strikes, simply feeling the motion wake his muscles as the stiffness of slumber eased away.

Things were being dealt with, he reminded himself with each deep breath. Those tasks he could not complete personally had been carefully delegated away. Mai and the Golden Shield were not about to let anything happen to his family and the girl of his dreams had, for some reason, consented to marry him.

Life was good and there was no reason to be paranoid.

The words had become his mantra over the last six months.

More relaxed he rang for water and his valets, of which there were three. Zuko had attempted on his appointment to Fire Lord to reduce the number of attendants that tended to shadow the royal family's every step. It hadn't really worked, but he'd at least minimized the amount of people who had the authority to wander into his bedchambers down to a single digit number.

His mood improved further under the familiarity of routine and by the time he was appropriately attired and heading for breakfast, Zuko was feeling positively sanguine.

Katara was standing at the entrance to the dining room, dressed in the waterbending master's robes she always wore when she was nervous and felt the need to remind herself of her own strength, a dark look on her face.

The small voice that sounded like Aang in his head fell silent as Zuko inwardly throttled it.

_Optimism: a mistake; especially before midmorning._

_

* * *

_

Katara brushed her long hair back behind her ears and looked so deliberately innocent that Zuko almost laughed. "They were left for me."

He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realize you had intelligence contacts in the city yet."

"I am going to be Fire Lady, you know." She replied demurely, then her voice turned more earnest. "Zuko, the rest of them are criminal, there's no mistaking that, but the one that mentions your sister..."

"Makes this a national problem." He leaned back and resisted the urge to tug at his hair in fear of dislodging his topknot. "Petitioner's day though; other than catching everyone nursing a hangover, why specifically that day?"

"You can't close the palace," Katara had clearly been thinking this through longer than he had. "You absolutely must hold open court. On petitioner's day anyone from anywhere is allowed in to see the Fire Lord which means any number of people could easily infiltrate the walls."

"I can't stop Petitioner's day," He replied emphatically. "Not even my father did that."

Katara rolled her eyes. "No he just tended to burn the supplicants to ash."

"I'll have to call in Mai," Without prompting Katara began to scratch out a list in shorthand. "We'll need to increase security at all points where someone coming into or out of the audience chamber could access the rest of the palace. Maybe if applicants could be screened? Only let the ones with a real grievance into the throne room." He grimaced. "No that's almost worse than not having it at all. There needs to be witnesses to the Fire Lord's justice."

"Not at the cost of your life Zuko," Katara said quietly, the intensity in her voice reminding him rather unpleasantly that there had been more than one close call when it came to him and assassinations.

He knew better than to placate Katara with empty reassurances. She had firsthand evidence of exactly how much danger his position placed him in.

Zuko wrapped his hand around her cool fingers. "I've got the best waterbender in the world watching my back."

Katara raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that your uncle's line?"

Zuko pursed his lips, leaning back from her with a blank expression, but he could feel his face heating and her giggling made it obvious he wasn't fooling anyone.

Katara covered her mouth delicately, trying to stifle the laughter that was bubbling up in her throat. But today her sweetness just made Zuko feel worse. "Katara," He sighed. "I can't stop this. I have to prove to people that I'm not my father. I need to show everyone I'm a better man than he was."

Sobering at his words Katara rose smoothly, stepping behind his gilded chair and resting her hands on his shoulders, the cool ice blue of her sleeves brushing his neck as she kissed the top of his head.

"I know. Spirits Zuko, I understand. But don't you think Azula knows that too?"

* * *

"Look buddy, we're almost there.

Aang leaned down to encourage Appa to put on just a little more speed. The coast of the Fire Nation rose from the blue-grey ocean like a bright jewel, and he realized just how much he missed the colour green after so long in the white-grey world of the northern tundra.

The four day journey had taken its toll on the both of them. There was almost no land at all between the western edges of the north continent and the islands of the Fire Nation except a mountain range on the very rim of the Earth Kingdom, where Aang had no interest in treading further.

Seven years there had been quiet enough.

No matter that the tower hidden away in those peaks was supposed to be a private sanctuary for the Avatar alone, Aang wasn't going back there until he didn't have anywhere else to run.

They hit land just as the sun was reaching its zenith, and he steered Appa to touch down in a wide open swath of grass beside a stream swollen with the runoff from snow covered mountains. It was still early spring in the Fire Nation and cooler than the sweltering heights it would reach in the summer months, but to Aang it felt like heaven, finally chasing away the last of the polar chill.

He stretched out next to Appa as his furry friend drank deeply from the rushing brook, digging in the pack he had pulled off the saddle to find the last of their food supplies. If they stopped just long enough for the bison to eat and get his breath back, they would reach the capital by sundown, which just might give them enough cover to sneak into the palace unseen.

Since his return to the world six months ago, his every move had been accompanied by pomp and circumstance. Just the sight of Appa in the sky seemed to be enough for most palaces to arrange a parade. It had been making Aang incredibly uncomfortable. There was a certain draw to the attention – not as much as there had been when he was a boy, still some small part of him never ceased to be excited when he was distinguished beyond what he'd been taught to expect as one of a hundred young monks at the Southern Temple - but too much scrutiny or adoration made him feel awkward.

As though he ought to break into dance as a distraction. Which he wouldn't, thanks to Zuko and his Fire Nation hatred of dancing.

Zuko had laughed until he actually cried the first time he had seen Aang's favourite dance.

Sokka had accused Zuko of being brainwashed by the Dai Li.

Which had attracted the attention of the rest of the room.

And Aang was never, ever going to do that dance again.

He ran one hand over his face; the embarrassment of seven years ago once again freshly humiliating and distracted himself by turning to feed the last of their hardtack like trip bread to Appa.

"Feeling better buddy?"

The great beast groaned in agreement as Aang continued talking, his attention obviously focused more on the food than the conversation. "Maybe when this Avatar stuff is sorted out we could go see Toph again. Put her students to work on giving you a nice rubdown."

Every time he left a city or a nation behind Aang tried to come up with a reason good enough to visit Toph. A reason other than wanting to wrap his arms around her waist, bury his face in her neck and never let go, because that would get him bludgeoned with large rocks. She had told him, right from the start that she had responsibilities and her own life and he wanted to respect that. A trapped Toph was no Toph at all really; not to mention irritable as a badgermole with its fur on fire.

But that didn't stop him from missing her terribly.

It was tempting, oh so tempting, to swing east and follow the coast of the Earth Kingdom to her school outside of Omashu instead. Toph would certainly stop him from getting trapped in the spirit world if she had to go in after him and drag Aang back to consciousness herself. But her understanding and experience with that plane was small to non-existent and Aang knew if he showed up at her school she would just punch him in the arm, give him a kiss and send him back to Zuko and Katara who might actually be able to help.

Still, for the kiss it might have been worth it.

Appa' disgruntled rumbling let Aang know that they'd better get a move on if he didn't want his furry friend falling asleep. Repacking, he tossed the bag up into the bison's saddle and leapt aboard. "Just a little further. Yip yip!"

* * *

The capital of the Fire Nation gleamed under the moonlight as Appa landed neatly in front of a gaping stable boy just outside the pens where the royal komodo rhinos were housed.

The young man nearly genuflected when Aang dropped to the ground in front of him. "My Lord Avatar, a thousand apologies, we were not expecting your arrival!"

Aang caught him by the elbow before he could kneel. "I'm a surprise," He grinned. "Is the Fire Lord at home?"

The man's eyes bulged. "I…I think so …"

"Great. Appa just wants somewhere to sleep," He snapped his glider open. "And maybe a few apples," His furry friend rumbled in approval. "Yeah apples would be good."

He took off on a warm updraft, not even trying to hold in his laughter.

Rather than brave the guards and the inevitable pomp and circumstance that he'd be forced into on his arrival, Aang opted instead to sail over the inner walls of the palace complex, right to the red tiled roof that overlooked the small courtyard attached to Zuko's private study. Years ago, when the palace had first been seized, the garden had been lushly overgrown, clearly unvisited and rarely tended. Since then the thick foliage had been replaced with smooth stonework and raked sand. It was oddly reminiscent of the western air temple's architecture in the narrow columns that ringed the space, and the slight scorch marks on the rock told him that it was now a private place for Zuko to work off his frustrations.

Aang landed lightly and inched forward to see if he could catch a glimpse of the Fire Lord.

A shadow detached itself from the lee of the wall and put a long, razor sharp knife to his throat.

"Welcome to the imperial palace," A smooth, cold voice said. "Care to tell me why you couldn't use the front entrance?"

"Uh," The knife pressed harder. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm just here to surprise Zuko. I promise."

"People aren't supposed to surprise the Fire Lord. It tends to make him irate when we let them."

"I'm not trying to do anything bad," He raised his free hand slowly. "We're friends. I'm Aang."

There was no response from the shadowy figure.

"Nice to meet you?" Aang tried with a tentative smile. "Listen I hate doing this but… I'm the Avatar."

"The Avatar?" The voice scoffed. "Yeah sure and I'm the Earth King. Put down your weapon, I'm taking you to Lady Mai."

"No really, I am the Avatar. Here I'll prove it." Aang reached out, stepping back from the blade against his neck and punching his right arm up. A massive pillar of earth rose from the stone courtyard below. In his left palm he conjured a fireball, blasting it forward to burn at the top of the pillar for a moment like a giant candle flame.

"_Bright Agni Above!_" Came the roar from the open window below. "What in the name of the Yellow Dragon is going on out there?"

Zuko stormed into the courtyard, his hair wild and flames licking at his fingertips.

"Hi Zuko!" Aang yelled. "I'll fix it in a second."

"Aang? _Enma's balls, _what are you _doing _up there?"

"Trying to convince your guards I'm not here to murder you."

"What?"

The shadowed figure buried his face in his hands with a groan for a moment before he was able to answer. "He was sneaking in over the roof, your Highness."

Zuko sighed audibly. "Its fine, just ….get down here."

"Sorry," Aang whispered to his erstwhile captor, dropping neatly down from the roof to land in front of the infuriated Zuko.

"Fix it." The Fire Lord said shortly, pointing at the enormous stone monolith in his garden.

He sunk the spire back into the earth with a shift of his stance.

Fire Lord and Avatar stared at one another for a long moment.

Zuko shook his head in exasperation, but Aang could see the faint shadow of a grin on his face. "It's good to see you."

Aang looped an arm around his friend's shoulders. "So how's the nation, Sifu Hotman?"

"About as well as can be expected. Which is to say we've got big problems," Zuko said sardonically. "I'm glad you got my letter. I didn't expect you to get here so fast."

_Letter?_

"Yes I did," Aang bluffed, badly. "I came as fast as I could so we could talk about all the important stuff in your letter."

"Cursed Agni, do any of you ever get my letters at all?" Zuko swore. "I'm starting to think the messenger hawks are eating them."

He steered them forward, inside to his study.

It had always amazed Aang that Zuko, who had lived for three and a half years on a ship, where space was always at a premium, could be so incredibly messy. The space was small, smaller than he had expected, even for a private study, and dominated by a low desk and two overstuffed chairs next to the wide, deep fireplace.

Every free surface was covered in scrolls, rolled and unrolled, and stacks of marked documents. A pool of sealing wax spread across one edge of the desk, frozen in an endless drip down the carved edges and Aang counted at least six empty teacups scattered around the room.

Zuko lifted the rumpled scarlet and gold pile that had once been his neatly pressed robes of office off one of the armchairs and shifted it to the desk, dropping the golden Fire Lord symbol from his topknot onto the pile; gesturing vaguely for him to sit. "Hungry?"

As if roused by the idea of food Aang's growling stomach answered for him and Zuko nodded, disappearing for a moment into the immaculate space of his official study to ring for something.

"Katara will be happy to see you," He closed the door carefully behind him as her re-entered and took the opposite chair, sending a lazy blast of fire into the hearth. "Toph as well."

"Toph's here?" Aang's heart gave an excited leap.

"Her Bandits apparently kicked her out on an enforced vacation," Zuko nodded. "Toph says it was because they can't handle her training regimen, but …well would you want to live with Toph for six months hemmed in by winter with nothing to do?"

_Yes, actually. _

Aang laughed awkwardly. "So, what was the letter supposed to have asked me here for? "

"Wait," Zuko held up a hand. "If you left the Northern Water Tribe before it reached you there must have been a reason. Why come here?"

"Ah, well I wanted your opinion, yours and Katara's…and your help. There's something in the spirit world," He offered. "Something wants my help."

The Fire Lord furrowed his brow, leaning back in his chair. "Spirits." He said vehemently. "It seems we have a common problem."

Aang, who had been working himself up to a difficult, involved discussion, stopped short. "Here?" He could understand their attempts to contact him through the Northern Temple, but rogue powers in the Fire Nation were something he had not expected.

Could this have been what they were trying to warn him about?

"There have been sightings," Zuko explained "Of a spirit in the capital, taking vengeance on a particular Tong faction. I'm not sure exactly how many of the stories are true but I didn't want to leave something to chance at this time of year."

"What does it look like?"

"Witnesses described it as dressed in black and wearing a female Noh mask -"

"With grey ovals around the eyes." Aang finished in unison with the Fire Lord, feeling a slithering sense of dread coiling in the pit of his stomach.

Zuko looked at him sceptically. "So I was right to call you back. What are we dealing with and exactly how worried do I need to be?"

"Koh," Aang said, his voice a disbelieving half-whisper. "The face stealer." He blinked and refocused on Zuko. "Don't let anyone else get near it. Koh is not to be trifled with. I'll handle it."

* * *

"Koh!"

Twinkletoes landed in front of her and for half a moment Toph didn't know what to do.

It was almost three months since they'd last seen each other, parting under a hail of pebbles launched by her troublemaking students with barely the chance for a kiss on the cheek and a promise to return as soon as possible. She fought the urge to leap into his arms in favour of making a smart aleck quip but the sound of him stopped her short.

His heartbeat was skittish but determined; the sound and fury of the Avatar undercutting his typical lighter rhythm.

Aang was scared. He was scared of her.

When he spoke his voice was softer, more polite and measured than she'd ever heard before. He sounded almost emotionless.

"You do not belong here Koh. What game are you playing?"

Then in a rush she remembered the mask and wondered, for the first time exactly how horrifying something that felt like an ordinary face could possibly be. Who in the name of earth was Koh and why would Aang be scared of him?

And why did she feel as though that name should have meant something to her. Was it just the trace of whomever Aang was remembering interfering in her own thoughts, or was it something more important? The almost-memory pricked at her, like the feeling of being unable to remember a word on the tip of her tongue.

Toph pushed it out of her mind and was about to pull off the mask and tease him within an inch of his life, when she remembered Katara and the Fire Nation's precarious acceptance of her position in court. They were both doing this to help the people ultimately, but that didn't exactly make their little spree more legal. And this was Twinkletoes; Avatar or not he was still best friends with the ruler of the country and totally incapable of keeping his mouth shut.

He stepped forward confrontationally. Toph knew if she used her earthbending Aang would fall back on the vibration sight she had taught him and know her instantly. Blast him for being such a quick study.

_Run._

It was a terrible, terrible idea… and yet. She was alone, Katara and her broken mask had stayed in for the evening to better establish her own alibi; there would be no help forthcoming.

Toph reached out with her bending to upset a cart around the corner into a brace of ostrich horses. The animals set off in a chorus of raucous squawking catching the Avatar's attention for a moment.

She took off at a dead sprint.

The walls and alleys of the city spread out in her head like a maze and Toph zigzagged through them as fast as she could, the sound of her bare feet slapping against the cobblestones impossibly loud on the silent streets. If she could get to the red flame district she could lose him in the hidden alleys that always seemed to be behind seedy bars or brothels.

Toph was three blocks away from safety when Aang dropped out of the sky and tackled her to the ground.

She landed with jarring impact, tearing her shirt and scraping her bared shoulder raw as her forward momentum sent them both skidding. She winced and waited for the slice of porcelain shards into her face, but remarkably the mask remained intact.

Resisting the urge to bend Twinkletoes into the depths of the earth, Toph opted instead to for bucking and struggling. Why couldn't he still be twelve years old and skinny? For all her musculature, she was a diminutive woman and Aang had equal strength as well as a height advantage. Without her bending to make up the deficit he managed to pin her arms to the ground quickly and straddle her thighs, stopping her increasingly wild kicks.

Spirits, how embarrassing.

Toph continued to fight fruitlessly until she could press her soles flat against the stone street. Her sight resolved itself and she relaxed, feeling safe as long as she was connected to her element. No one got the better of Toph Bei Fong unless she allowed it.

"You're not Koh," Aang said unnecessarily and with infuriating calm. Toph stopped her wriggling attempts at freedom and stared in his direction, willing every irritated, sarcastic thought in her head to be communicated through the painted face that covered her features.

"He would never have run from me," Clearly it was not working as well as she had hoped. "But you are wearing his face. Exactly his." Keeping both her arms immobilized with one of his large hands Aang reached for the edge of her mask. Toph jerked her head away as far as she could, tensing and ready to shift the earth if need be. She absolutely refused to be caught in this position. Pinned by Twinkletoes; the humiliation would be unending.

"I won't hurt you," Aang said, as though he was gentling a reluctant ostrich-horse.

Toph remained stubbornly silent, but she stopped trying to escape when he abandoned the task of baring her face.

"That mask belongs to a spirit," He explained. "A very old and dangerous spirit called the face stealer."

She nearly snorted. The Face Stealer wasn't real. He was just an archetype like Kitsune the trickster or the image of the Sage, a symbolic name given to the personification of malevolence and punishment in theatre or scary stories like the ones Katara and Ursa had told the other night. Every nation had legends of a creature who stole souls away, but they weren't _true_.

_It's been a long time since I added a child's face to my collection. _

The words were a rasping whisper in her mind and Toph couldn't help but start violently, her body reacting unconsciously to distance her mind from the terrifying half memory.

Aang wasn't talking; having fallen silent in what she assumed was contemplation of her disguise. Toph bucked lightly again, trying to bring back his focus without speaking. The movement brought the whole length of their bodies into contact and she felt her skin erupt in sensation and longing.

Instinctively she went pliant beneath him, her movements changing from frenetic to languorous, revelling in the feeling as he thoughtlessly pressed lower and closer against her in response.

His heartbeat leapt like a frightened bird and he jerked away as though she was on fire. "No! – I mean, uh… you seem nice enough for a woman –person posing as a deadly spirit but, it's just, I'm uh… no thank you." The whole garbled sentence came out in a rush and Aang disappeared from the range of her sight almost before he'd finished it.

Toph lay abandoned on the cold dirty street, caught halfway between furious frustrated desire and hysterical giggling.

* * *

She dragged her tired body up through the reopened passageway in the floor of her bedroom and froze for a split second at the sound of another heartbeat, yanking the mask off her face and behind her back as fast as she could before she recognized the familiar sound.

The normally racing rhythm was soft and indolent in slumber. Wrapped in the cocoon of blankets she had pulled free of the elaborate bed and piled on the floor, Aang had clearly made himself a little too comfortable waiting for her.

Careful to step lightly Toph stripped off her tight black clothing, shoving it far into the clutter at the back of her wardrobe where it wouldn't be found, and slid with an irrepressible groan of happiness into the soft cotton of her pyjamas, before burrowing next to him without a second thought.

Aang shifted easily at her light shove, letting her get settled before wrapping her up in his arms. Toph sighed with pleasure as the warmth of his inner fire relaxed her tense muscles; her troubles and fears floated away like dust on the breeze and her eyelids instantly grew heavy.

"'lo Toph." He murmured, snuffling against her hair.

Closing her eyes she smiled but didn't reply. He was already asleep.

* * *

_A/N: Because all pairings deserve masked UST, not just Zutara._

_For anyone wondering, Enma - who's gentlemen's region Zuko was cursing - is the name of that meditating monkey Aang ticks off on his journey to the spirit world in 'Siege of the North'. It is also the Japanese name for Yama, the Hindu and Buddhist lord of the dead. Gotta love how well researched this show was!_

"Where did you say these came from?" Zuko repeated, flipping through the stack of incriminating documents again.


	7. Memory and Dream

**VII. Memory and Dream**

* * *

Aang woke to birdsong and a beautiful woman in his arms.

He traced his fingers oh so lightly across the pale skin of Toph's shoulder, cool where it rose, exposed over the blanket twisted haphazardly around them, caught between half asleep, lazy affection and the banked fire she set in his blood.

Reluctantly, Aang shifted away from her soporific warmth, trying to stretch muscles that were stiff from sleep - only to find that he lacked an arm. His left bicep disappeared into the small gap between the rise of Toph's collar and the base of her neck. Her back was to him, but he could feel her rough little hands wrapped around his forearms the way one might curl their arms around a pillow.

Aang tugged gently, hoping that she might adjust her position, or at least roll back over so he could kiss her awake.

There was no reaction.

He pulled again, harder this time. Toph murmured a protest and uncoiled from her fetal position to tangle their legs together.

Wrapping his free arm and leg around her Aang slid her close enough to press his lips against her cheek. "Good morning."

Toph groaned softly. "Spirits it feels like dawn."

"It is dawn." He assured her, his inner fire tracking the rise of Agni's light as it lifted free of the horizon without even having to look towards the window.

Toph didn't bother to open her eyes or even change her expression from its sleepy blankness, but when she turned in his arms so that they were face to face, her displeasure was obvious. "Are we under attack?" she asked slowly, her voice hoarse from disuse.

"I don't think so." He laughed, ignoring the little voice in his head screaming something that might have been _'Doom!'_.

The cool marble beneath their blanket nest on the floor launched him to his feet, Toph timing her roll away perfectly to avoid being yanked upward as well. "Wake me when it's lunch." she snatched the pillow he had been using and wrapped her body around it, burying her face in the soft cotton, her last words muffled and almost unintelligible.

Aang couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the pillow.

"Awe, Toph."

A rock burst against the wall half an inch from his ear. "Go away."

Aang didn't even flinch. Toph never missed when it came to earthbending, she must really have been pleased to see him.

Mindlessly brushing the worst of the wrinkles out of his crumpled tunic he wandered out into the halls. The palace was bustling at this time of day, Toph might not have been inclined to wakefulness considering her late night, but people in the Fire Nation rose early and the corridors were full of servants rushing back and forth to prepare their masters for the day. He himself was feeling the effect of very little sleep and Aang couldn't help wondering when exactly she had finally gotten in. Not that it would have really mattered. Toph never liked mornings; sometimes he thought she was nocturnal, like the badgermoles she imitated. Unless they were on the road or preparing for battle, she kept her own odd hours.

After the fourth person stopped to stare and bow, Aang reversed course in his quest for breakfast and fled towards the garden instead.

He should have endured the formal greeting ceremony instead of sneaking in. At least then people wouldn't be so surprised when they saw him.

Aang swung himself into the branches of an ornamental sun-pear tree, wondering idly whether it was a crime to loot the Fire Lord's gardens for breakfast as he bit into the fruit.

With the exception of the grandiose entrance that held the throne room and the official chambers of state the Fire Palace was primarily built on a single story, which blocked the extensive grounds into smaller gardens. The tropical climate lent itself to the exposed nature of the architecture. There were very few rooms without a balcony or latticed wall open to the outside. The buildings were not as sprawling as the complexes of the Earth Kingdome elite, and they did not share the tiered height of the air temples, where every inch of horizontal space was coveted but their openness made Aang feel more comfortable than he tended to in a walled ice city or earth fortress.

Mostly he appreciated the ability to be outside without having to devote half his concentration to not letting himself freeze to death.

A flash of blue amongst all the red and black caught his attention.

"Katara!"

He leapt out of the tree, sending a flurry of new leaves and old blossoms up in his wake and landing before her with a rush that blew her hair into wild disarray.

"Aang!" She exclaimed in return, her voice perfectly matching the balance of frustration and affection that had coloured Zuko's the previous night.

"Sorry-" he barely had time to finish the word before she had enveloped him in a tight hug.

"It's so good to see you. When did you get in? I can't believe no one told me!"

"Well,' He admitted sheepishly. "It was late last night and I kind of snuck in over the walls."

"You got in without anyone seeing you?" Katara narrowed her eyes, her mood shifting almost palpably.

"No, I almost got skewered. Luckily Zuko came out and found us; his guards have no sense of humour."

She visibly relaxed and Aang felt as though he ought to be insulted that Katara was so pleased he had almost been ventilated by an overzealous watchman. "So how's the Fire Nation?" He asked instead, falling into step beside her. "And where can an Avatar get some breakfast?"

"Oh," Katara's face fell slightly. "I was actually about to go and waterbend a little. But I'd rather talk to you. We can go get something to eat instead."

He shot her a grin and offered one of his stolen sun-pears from where he had secreted them in the pocket of his tunic. "Why don't we do both? You and I haven't trained together in a long time."

Her smile was as bright as the morning sun.

* * *

The space mapped by the low wall near the outer edge of the palace grounds was clearly a new addition to the imperial seat of power. It was roughly the shape and size of an Agni Kai arena, but the area was more open, lacking the stands that were traditionally provided for spectators. Just inside the knee high barrier that marked the arena's perimeter there was a deep channel cut into the stone and filled with water, covered with a lattice barrier to prevent anyone falling in. Though, from what Aang had heard of the final battle Katara had fought against Azula, he wouldn't want to step over it while fighting her, barrier or no. The ground was patterned in a basic geometric design of wide metal panels that overlaid the simple limestone, ready to be heated or iced over in order to hobble the unwary or provide Toph with more material to bend.

It was the perfect combat arena, but today they were not here to fight.

With Toph, training was always a battle; a contest for dominance as she pushed him to be constantly stronger and more inventive.

Training with Zuko was a synchronicity of striving. They would move in unison with both of them aiming for flawless mastery of each form.

When he trained with Katara however, it was like dancing.

She took her place opposite him across the open space, wordlessly smiling, and he matched her without hesitation.

Bending was a combative thing by nature. To move the elements required manipulation of the world beyond the body, the application of force by imposing one's will on what was around them. The skilled bender was always in harmony with their element, but only in waterbending could that equivalence be so effortless.

Fire blazed forward to raze its opponents to the ground.

Earth waited and listened for fissures to exploit.

Air blew through defenses, coaxing its foes into a false step.

But water constantly sought to flow through the path of least resistance to a point of equilibrium.

No one who had ever witnessed the frenzied grief of the ocean spirit or battled Katara under a full moon would deny the destructive potential that water held, but the goal of masters in the art was not to force one or the other of them into submission. Such combat, they argued, causes injury to both aggressor and defendant. Instead they strove to become so proficient that no blow would ever land; to emulate the eternal dance of Tui and La, constant yielding and simultaneous attack.

Push and pull. Balance.

I had been a long time since he'd moved this way, so Aang let Katara take the lead, matching her steps almost instantly. The circled for a moment, arms forward with their wrists angled to bare their palms to the sky. Had they been standing closer the pose would have perfectly mimicked the movements of their first dance together so many years ago.

Katara twisted, pivoting on her heel to shift her weight and pull a swirl of water around her in one smooth movement. She moved with the liquid alone for a moment before pushing it out towards him. Aang mirrored her steps and the wave hurtled forward, increasing the water's momentum with his own circling turns and redirecting its force to split four equal ribbons from the torrent and shift back to the offensive. She could have stopped it; with no more than a gesture Katara could have shattered his paltry attack into a thousand harmless sparkling droplets. Instead she twirled nimbly, arching her arms like a dancer and the water split around her, merging into a twisted column that surged up towards the sky at her command.

Aang stepped closer, bending an equal volume of water free of the channels around them.

Katara's expression was untouchably serene.

They moved in perfect rhythm for what might well have been hours. Aang's conscious thought melted away, lost in the bunch and shift of his muscles, the beating of blood in his ears; he drowned in the meditation of the movements.

At some unspoken signal Katara strode forward so that they stood abreast, moving in tandem rather than opposition. Together they bent a low wave that swept across the arena, sluicing away treacherous puddles and rapidly melting ice, leaving the training ground damp but pristine once more.

Aang turned and bowed deeply towards Katara, who was damp and glowing from the exertion. "It was a pleasure to train with you again." He thanked her formally.

Katara flushed and waved him away but he could see on her face how much she appreciated the acknowledgement of her status as master. Which was, of course, exactly why he had said it in the first place.

The water darkening the ground evaporated in a hiss of steam as the stone became hot enough to feel right through the soft soles of his boots.

Aang and Katara broke eye contact, spinning to face Zuko and a sleepy looking Toph. "That was a very pretty dance," She says in a tone that implies she'd be adding comments about sparkles and rainbows if she had any idea what either of those things were, "Don't you think Sparky?"

Zuko tried to glower at them the way he used to when all he knew of Aang and Katara was that they kept eluding his grasp and ruining his plans, but the effect was spoiled by a muscle in his cheek that kept twitching with supressed amusement.

Katara stepped in front of him instantly, spreading her arms theatrically wide and pitching her voice higher in imitation of the girl she had been. "I won't let you have Aang!"

Zuko squared off with her. "Surrender Avatar!" He roared, laughter bubbling up under his voice.

"Yeah Twinkletoes!" Toph's shout completely undermined any menace in Zuko's fierce mien. "Give up now before we embarrass you!"

It had, predictably, been Sokka who'd come up with the game, when a boomerang shot gone wild had knocked Zuko into a fountain. The then-prince had surfaced sputtering and furious with his careful topknot reduced to a dripping ponytail.

Sokka had shrieked something about angry jerks, yelling at Aang and his sister to run from the evil Fire Nation.

Zuko had actually looked dismayed and hurt for a moment before Toph interrupted with, "Come on Sparky, even I know your next line!" She'd pitched her voice to a truly ridiculous falsetto "I must capture the Avatar and restore my honour!"

Despite protesting that he 'did _not_ sound like that!' Zuko had shot a quick confirming glance towards a giggling Katara and released a plume of fire from his lips, before chasing full tilt after Sokka and Aang.

Wishing he had his staff to wave about dramatically Aang pointed an accusing finger at the sleepy woman. "Toph, how could you betray us like this?"

"I can't resist the lure of Zuko's foot massages!" She cried. "And power, he promised me power too. Soon all will bow before the Melon Lord!"

Aang choked on a laugh and almost took a rock pillar to the gut for his distraction.

Zuko and Katara were moving away, circling one another, and he was tempted to back off and just watch what was shaping up to be a rather spectacular show. But one mischievous look from Toph was enough to let him know he wasn't getting off that easily.

"You wouldn't hit your future bride would you, Zuko?" Katara cooed.

The young Fire Lord gave her a blazing grin. "Only if she hits me first."

"Well then," Toph cracked her knuckles, smiling evilly. "Let's rumble."

The opposing pairs had barely taken a step towards one another when an arcing streak of metal knocked the flame ornament out of Zuko's hair with a neat pinging noise.

"Yeah! Sneak attack!"

The whine of whirling golden fans slicing towards his ankles made Aang leap into the air as Katara swirled a sparkling ice shield from the pool; Toph just spun on her heel and brained Sokka with a tiny rock. "Is that any way to say hello Snoozles?"

Katara froze her brother's feet to the ground and then tackled him with a hug that cracked the ice.

"Hey," Aang said, helping Zuko back to his feet awkwardly as Toph and Suki exchanged a hug of greeting. "How come they didn't get in trouble for attacking you?"

"They used the front door." Zuko reminded him, shoving the golden hairpiece into a pocket with a resigned sigh.

Sokka had managed to extricate himself from the ice and his affectionate sister and clapped a hand on Aang's back with almost enough force to knock him to the ground. "Yup, just ask politely and they'll let you right in to try and knock the Fire Lord's block off."

"Good to see you too, Sokka." Zuko told him wryly.

* * *

"..And then tonight Team Avatar is going to go out and cause trouble!"

"Sokka - yet again - I can't go out here, I'm the Fire Lord"

"Ah, Suki and I thought of that, don't worry. Tonight, you will be going out in disguise as," Sokka stole Suki's elaborate golden headdress and dropped it onto Zuko's unruly hair. "A Kyoshi Warrior!"

Zuko's whole body slumped in defeat and humiliation. "I hate you."

Aang dropped back a little, to where Toph was bringing up the rear of the group. "Hey," He studied her hand with the intent focus of a scholar, wondering if he should take it, if he could take it without Toph bending him into a wall.

"Hey." She replied with an enigmatic smile that did absolutely nothing to answer what he felt was a very pressing question.

"It's good to see you," He offered. "I thought you'd be back in the Earth Kingdom."

"I'm always here at this time of year," Toph shrugged. "Usually I come with Sokka and Suki for the festival."

"Is that the trouble Sokka says we'll be up to tonight?" Aang sidled close enough that the heat of her body prickled at his bare arm.

Toph tilted her head slightly, a move that would have been a considering glance from someone who needed to look to see him. "Snoozles is the man with the plan. I'll just end up meeting with you later."

"You're not coming?"

"I sit vigil with Iroh every year," She explained. "So he's not alone when he performs the mourning rites for his wife and son."

Aang melted a little, smiling softly even though she wouldn't see it. "That's really –"

"Don't you _dare_say sweet." Toph muttered mutinously.

"But it _is_." He emphasized the last word teasingly, feeling daring enough to move closer as the rest of their friends disappeared around a corner. "You're just really sentimental inside aren't you? The tough girl is all an act-_mgh_!"

The words were cut off as she yanked him down; dipping Aang like a heroine from some trashy romantic play, the spread of her small hands against the base of his skull providing her with enough information to unerringly pinpoint his mouth.

Her kiss was forceful, but chaste and quick. Aang was back on his feet before he could properly comprehend what had happened, licking his lips and watching Toph flush prettily as she tried to pull away. Emboldened by her affection, Aang reached out and caught her hand, tugging her back against his side.

"It's pretty good to see you too Twinkletoes." She murmured as they caught up with the group.

* * *

The delicate golden tray rattled ever so slightly in her grip as Toph maneuvered her way through the tall, heavy doors into the quiet stillness of the sanctuary.

The sun hadn't yet dipped below the horizon - she could pick out the call of daytime songbirds and the scent of a recently opened, evening blooming mirabilis flower wafted delicately through the air - but in the shrine the marble remained cool, shadowed by a high roof she could feel only by its wooden absence in her sight.

The room was octagonal, lined on all sides by upright slabs of smoothly polished marble, rising into the space where the open walls allowed the breeze to flow through.

On the left side of the room sat Iroh, breathing in that deep energizing way that Sparky did when he was meditating. He was deep enough in thought that he made no move to indicate awareness of her until she was halfway to where he was settled.

"A young lady like you should be celebrating with her friends on a night like this."

"It isn't night yet," She replied, as she had every year on this occasion. "And this is a vigil that should not be held alone." She placed down the tea tray and earthenware cups that she had created herself many years ago for exactly this purpose, felt him move to take the hot water pot and held up one hand. "You are the one who bears this loss, please allow me to serve and bear it with you."

After Zuko had explained this night and the associated traditions it held for the Fire Nation, Toph had been determined to learn the proper ceremony to share sorrow with her old friend. The creation of the stone tea service had helped her to master the pouring and measuring, but she had brewed so many terrible blends in practice attempts that it was years before her companions would take any drink she offered.

Now she was an old hand at it and her teas – provided she didn't try and make the leaf blends herself – were not only drinkable, but excellent; something she never failed to rub in Zuko's face.

Iroh took the offered cup, humming with pleasure as he sipped and Toph cradled her own, letting it warm her palms for a moment before she spoke.

"Tell me of those who you honour today; your wife, your son."

She like hearing about Lu Ten and his mother, but tonight the Old Dragon did not seem inclined to speak.

"I have told you every story I have about my family." He said gently. "I appreciate your kindness but if you wouldn't mind sitting with me for a while I would, I think, like that the most."

"I don't mind if you repeat yourself." She assured him. "That one about Lu Ten and the boarqupine on the Fire Lord's throne is pretty funny." There was an unusual sense of trepidation in the steady, mournful beat of his heart. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be."

Iroh chuckled slightly. "No my girl, I imagine you wouldn't. But there is more to my family than my wife and my son, though I do miss them terribly," His voice broke slightly on the word and Toph pretended deliberately not to notice. "Since the day Lu Ten died I have had to measure every allotment of affection against what I knew in my heart to be right. There was no place as Ozai's brother, or Azulon's son for someone who did not believe in the war. It was something I tried and failed to shield Zuko from; severing parts of one's heart to preserve the soul.

"Still there are moments, memories of times before we were all so broken that … I value; that I cannot bring myself to dismiss or surrender to scrutiny," He seemed to be struggling for words, so Toph reached out to pat him lightly on the arm, where she would have slugged Sokka or Zuko.

"It's fine. I'm happy to stay." She placed her teacup on the floor to one side where she wouldn't knock it over with an exaggerated shrug. "Everyone is always telling me I should meditate more often."

"Thank you my dear." Iroh said after a moment, the gratitude colouring his voice worth far more to her than a million protestations of affection.

She tried to adjust herself into a comfortable position, resisting the urge to bend the marble below her into a softer state, and concentrated on matching her breathing to Iroh's as it evened out. The sound mingled with the whisper of winds as it passed through the open walls and the slow measured tones of her heartbeat into a lulling sort of white noise.

It was an effort at first, to remain still. Toph could wait for hours if she had to, listening for an opponent's first move, weighing her options, plotting the perfect course of action, but to simply be motionless for no purpose and remain awake seemed silly to her. Slowly, almost imperceptibly she felt her awareness sink and expand.

Her vibration sight was subsumed by other senses, first hearing and then scent. The softly steaming teacup at her knee, redolent of rosehips and lemongrass; the sweet, powdery floral smoke of the lotus incense set before the grave markers; the smell of warm skin radiating from Iroh and herself, his slightly acrid with the tang of ash, hers loamy like damp earth, made her dizzy with their intensity.

Toph took another deep breath through her nose, setting her whole head buzzing and suddenly she was wrapped in the scent of camphor wood and sun baked pine needles and her awareness of the shrine fell completely away just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

The space lacked the sharp clarity that her inner landscape had possessed when she had shared consciousness with Aang all those months ago, but she recognized it well enough to know that she wasn't alone there.

Suspicion rolled through the air like distant thunder.

_Hello Toph._

She had no perception of who might be speaking to her, only a sweet feminine voice that seemed to echo through her mind from everywhere and nowhere at once.

_Who are you?_ She demanded, shouting into the mist.

_I am Ummi_. The voice answered. _And I'm glad that you can finally hear me, because I need your help._

_How did you get in my head?_ Toph groped, awkwardly for any tremor of the person talking to her. _What do you want?_

_We are the same_. The voice told her.

_You're talking to me, we can't be the same._ She snapped. _Get out of my head!_

_Believe me, I want to. _

_Make sense right now. _

_I'm sorry, it's hard to explain._ Toph had the distinctly uncomfortable feeling of someone riffling through her memories as though they were a stack of paper. She would have been wincing in pain if she'd had any awareness of her own body. An image was forced into the forefront of her mind with a violence that made her cry out, the sudden sense of sight deeply jarring her.

It was one of Aang's memories, naturally, the absence of vibration sight and the inclusion of colours she was just beginning to learn made that perfectly clear. Though it took her a few moments to process what she was looking at.

Toph recognized the shape of the creature from the tremors it made. A centipede, but one swollen to gargantuan size, it's segmented body coiling off into the darkness. A bug that wore the face of a beautiful dark skinned woman.

_I am him_, The voice told her. _And I am you. This is Koh the face stealer._

* * *

_A/N – A thousand apologies to anyone who hasn't abandoned this fic. Writers block has a one-two punch it's hard to get up from, but everything seems to have started working again so it shouldn't be too long before I get the next chapter up. _

_Thanks to my reviewers, and to everyone who has faved and alerted. I appreciate the feedback more than you know. A big thanks as well to my beta, Newtype Omega, who poked me with a metaphorical stick when I needed it._


	8. Diametric

**XIII. Diametric**

_The Opposite of What You Are is How They Get You_

_

* * *

_

_Enough. _Toph said firmly. _No cryptic nonsense, no riddles. You tell me where you are or I wake myself up right now._

_Are you so sure you can?_

Toph jerked, realizing that indeed she had no way of separating herself from the dream state she was in. She had no awareness of her own body to shock herself free and clearly awareness that she was not awake wasn't helping. Icy fear began to trickle down her spine despite her ruthless attempts to suppress it. _Let me go!_

_I'm sorry._ Ummi's voice told her_. I can't, not yet. I need your help and this is the only chance I've gotten in five hundred years. _

_Nobody lives that long._ Panic made her patience even shorter.

_But the spirits do. _

_Koh kept you alive for five hundred years?_

_I'm not alive really; my body died a long time ago. _

_Well why haven't you moved on then?_ Toph wasn't sure what she believed in, but you couldn't really be best friends with the living embodiment of the reincarnation cycle without assuming that there was some other kind of life beyond.

_Koh took me in retribution; a punishment for someone he was not allowed to touch. Now I'm part of his …collection. _

_And how are you me?_ Toph asked flatly.

_It's a game_. Ummi said with a disheartened sigh.

_You're usurping my mind and control of my body for a game?_

_No, not really… it's not like that._

_Then what is it like! _Toph spat_. Explain it to me!_

_Koh exists for a purpose. He was a mortal once, back in the early days of the world and he did something so horrible that the great spirits would not allow him to move forward on the wheel of life. As punishment, he became bound in servitude to the god of death serving as a jailor for the corrupted._

_So what did you do?_

_I loved the wrong man. _

_Oh is that a mortal sin now? I'm in trouble._ Toph asked flippantly, trying to reassure herself on familiar ground.

Ummi's voice turned sharp with impatience. _Koh has been given too much autonomy, too much power. He is so old now that few can stand against him or gainsay his actions. For the Face Stealer, his duties have become a means of personal retribution. _

_What did you do to him?_ Toph asked, trying not to let wonder be audible in her voice. Whatever could this woman have done to personally harm an ancient spirit bent on vengeance?

_Not I. The Avatar. _

_Aang?_

_No, the Avatar spirit. Koh hates it for some reason. He will take any opportunity to punish the Avatar. _Her tone turned wistful._ And five hundred years ago the Avatar loved me. So I was taken to punish Kuruk. _

_That's all very tragic, but would you mind explaining what in Oma's name you are doing in my head?_

_Koh is …bored._ She continued before Toph had the chance to get angry again, which didn't make her want to strangle the disembodied voice any less._ The curse of immortality alone; when even the jailers are in prison. He offered me the opportunity at freedom, if I played along._

_What ... Game? _Rage swept through her. How dare anyone use her for some twisted entertainment?

_He would send me back, after a fashion, and I would have the chance to find my way back to the Avatar. Through you and others like you. _

_Others?_

_People who the Avatar might love. _

_Wait, so you're in Katara's head too._

_No, _Ummi said bitterly. _That would have been too easy. He'd never put me so close to the Avatar without something being wrong. _

_I don't understand. _

_Kyoshi, the Avatar born after Kuruk, lived too long. That was Koh's trick; two hundred and thirty years. No force on earth could make a mortal live so long, even the Avatar. By the time my spirit was reborn it was too late and she found someone else, only to outlive me again. When the Avatar cycle continued into the Fire Nation, Koh gave me to one whose ability to love was ever clouded by his desire for war._

_Who?_

_Fire Lord Sozin. There is always the potential for what Kuruk and I shared, but Koh likes to stack the deck and watch me beat the walls in frustration._

Well that was not what she had expected. Both men, as far as Toph was aware, had been married. It wasn't a completely outlandish idea she supposed. They had encountered stranger things in their travels._ But why?_ Toph questioned,_ I mean it's probably not nice hanging out as just a face but what are you getting out of this?_

Another image burned its way into her mind, the disorientation of the shift from a world with no feedback at all to the unfamiliarity of sight again made her want to throw up.

It was more than just an image this time, the nausea only increased as she realized she could feel wind on her skin, smell the stagnant water of the swamp she was standing in, but she couldn't sense the tremors in the earth.

Through Aang's eyes she could see a man, approaching out of the bamboo, dressed in the fur and hide of the Water Tribes with the pelt of some fierce looking animal over his head. He was handsome, with a chiselled jaw and prominent cheekbones, though his eyes were lined by grief and weary with searching.

_Kuruk cannot find me, he has been trying since he entered the spirit world, but he is bound by the laws of that place and Koh keeps him looking in circles for his lair. If I win our little wager, Koh has given his word to remove the shroud that keeps Kuruk lost._

_So he can find you?_

_And fight Koh to set me free._

_Well that stinks._

Ummi sighed_. Would it be better to just give up? I have to try._

_What If he's lying?_

_Koh cannot lie, he is a bound spirit._

Toph could not comprehend the woman's placid acceptance of her fate._ Why don't you fight?_

_How? _The voice was helpless, plaintive.

_Well everyone has weaknesses; all you need is the right bug stomper. _

She laughed and the sound was heartbreakingly sad. _I have no control. I'm just the spark; an observer who accompanies a possibility. I'm a quiescent part of you hoping desperately to connect with some deep down part of the Avatar that is still Kuruk. You are the closest I have ever gotten._

Her stomach dropped. _Are you... the reason that Aang and I? _She couldn't finish the sentence. Toph didn't want to admit anything only to find out it was all just a construction.

Besides, she thought - secure in her denial - it couldn't be. It was never the fact that Aang was the Avatar that had attracted her to him. It was his voice, his careful hands, the way that he knew her so well and though it drove her crazy, he could always see through her. This Kuruk person was just an image. Nothing she could understand; no reassuring heartbeat sound to tell her whether or not she could recognize Aang in him.

He was nothing at all.

The faint thrill she could feel was because of Ummi, nothing more.

_I don't know for certain. _The source of Toph's discomfort said consolingly._ As long as I am part of you there's no way to be sure. _

_You're not, you can't be… I'd be able to tell. _She could tell. She had always been able to discern whether something was true.

_If that was true, wouldn't you have told him how you feel by now?_

Toph wanted to curse in vehement denial; she wanted to earthbend this soul stealer out of her head, but more than anything she wanted what Ummi was saying not to make a horrible sort of sense.

_I'm sorry._ Ummi said gently. _I really am._

_How … how do I get you out of my head? She asked shakily. I want you out _right now!

_You can't. Unless Koh is killed-_

_Point me in the right direction. _

_Not even you can kill a spirit Toph Bei Fong. Unless he takes a mortal form, he's invulnerable. _

That stopped Toph in her tracks._ Mortal form – like the fish at the North Pole, Sokka told me about how that man killed the moon spirit. _

_Tui and La surrendered themselves to that form._ Ummi reminded her gently.

She had been bewildered by Sokka's ardent defense of the moon spirit when they were younger, Toph would have laughed at that terrible play's depiction of what she had always assumed was a normal battle during the siege of the north, if all three of her friends heartbeats had not been slow and heavy with grief_. _

_But there were still oceans; the moon didn't turn into a fish. Something of the spirit must be in both places. Didn't you say Koh used to be mortal?_

_Well yes but- _

_So we find whatever's left of him and I grind his bones to powder and you get out of my head. Everybody wins. _

_There might be a way to summon him here, if we can find out where he became a spirit. But there's no guarantee – _

_Perfect._ Toph said decisively. _No time to waste. _

She could hear the smile in Ummi's voice as she answered. _Agreed._

Toph slammed back into her body and awareness gasping as though she had just broken the surface of deep, cold water. She pressed her palms into the comforting stone of the floor, trying to slow her heartbeat and stop shaking, reassuring herself that she still had her earth senses, that she was still in control of her own body.

Her trembling hand brushed against the teacup she'd abandoned on the floor to find the ceramic still blistering hot to the touch. She'd been insensible for less than ten minutes. Iroh hadn't moved, obviously caught up in his own meditations.

Leaning back into the comforting embrace of the marble and very decidedly not opening her mind or breathing smoothly, she bent her mind to planning.

* * *

Zuko had managed to get out of the Kyoshi warrior makeup by waiting until Suki pronounced him finished and then proceeding to kiss Katara deeply and ruin it three times in a row until the Kyoshi commander threw her brush at him and announced that she was not wasting any more ceremonial warpaint on someone with no appreciation for her traditions.

The deeply cowled coat he had opted for instead was hanging slightly askew over one eye as he leaned heavily on a stumbling Katara who wasn't paying attention to anything other than joining in with her brother's rendition of a very, very bawdy water tribe hunter's song about mighty spears. Suki was leaning on Aang's shoulder, helpless with laughter, and he couldn't stop himself from giggling in a way that Sokka had been telling him wasn't manly all night long.

There was only one thing missing.

Toph had never come out to join in the greasy festival food and wild debauchery that followed such a sombre holiday. The others had assured Aang that she'd probably ended up getting into the sake with Iroh while he told ridiculous stories about his son and baby Zuko, which had made the Fire Lord glare at them all balefully and protest his constant position as laughingstock.

"Oh Zuko," Aang had soothed, badly. "You're all noble all the time, just rise above it?"

"Are you suggesting," He had said, overarticulating every word in an effort to dispel the slur that too much rice wine and dancing had smeared over his voice. "That I stand on my dignity?"

"Well you better," Suki'd interjected like the flawless straight man she played so well. "Cause if you don't-"

"We'll do it for you!" cried the Water Tribe siblings, who had descended on him from both sides with fresh drinks and obnoxious gestures of affection.

It wasn't that Aang hadn't had a riotous good time, it only seemed that there were jokes that came a bit too slow, silences that lasted a beat too long, the group's timing off with one man down. It made him wonder just how much the dynamic had needed to shift when he had left them so long ago.

Suki's giggles had faded away into a faint hum as she followed the tune of Sokka and Katara's song, leaning her head on his shoulder and blinking tiredly. "You are hopeless," She said with a smile. "It's very sweet."

Aang winked at her, feeling bold. "Don't know what you mean."

"You've been craning your neck around so much tonight I was beginning to thing you were turning into a Osprey-owl," Suki raised an eyebrow at him. "You thought I wouldn't notice you looking for her every thirty seconds?"

"Sokka," Aang called, spinning the Kyoshi warrior around fast enough to make her stumble. "Your woman is intoxicated and talking nonsense."

"Come here woman!" Sokka fairly bellowed, holding out his arm for her.

"I'm not your woman." Suki instead, but she ducked into his embrace anyway just as Katara started in on her brother for being sexist.

Sokka put his hand over his ears and ran away at top speed, Suki racing after him in a cloud of melodic laughter. Aang took a look at Katara who was frozen by the sudden lack of a target for her lectures, and Zuko, who was leaning against the wall staring at her with an intense expression Aang absolutely did not want to analyze and tore off down the hall after the escaping couple.

Sokka had stumbled to a halt, bent over and breathing heavily. Suki stood over him looking cool and collected, as though she had been out for a morning stroll rather than sprinting full tilt through hallways while inebriated.

"Are they being gross?" He asked.

Aang shrugged. "I didn't stick around long enough to find out."

"We should go find Toph," Suki suggested, pointedly not looking at Aang even though he narrowed his eyes at her. Sokka, however, seemed to like the suggestion.

"We can go see Iroh too."

"It's a mourning day, you guys," Aang protested. "He may want to be alone."

"A mourning day followed by a party, Aang," Sokka stressed, trying to drop a brotherly arm around his shoulders the way he used to, only to remember belatedly that Aang had a few inches of height on him now. "He'll be happy to see us. Besides, Iroh always has the best booze. That's why Toph never came out to find us, wait and see."

Three wrong turns later, they had given up and tried to ask a servant for directions when the venerable old general himself had rounded a corner and almost walked right into them. "Miss Suki," He exclaimed. "Master Sokka, Avatar! How are you my friends? Enjoying your night I trust."

"Iroh!" They chorused in greeting.

"We were just looking for you."

"And Toph."

"We were looking for you and Toph."

"I see," He said, eyes glimmering with mirth. "I'm afraid young Toph left me a number of hours ago to look for you."

"Maybe she got lost," Suki offered. "Or she's still out there looking. Toph does have a little trouble navigating crowds."

Sokka waved off any concern. "If she's out there, she'll come back when she's sick of looking."

"Unless she needs to be bailed out again," Iroh murmured under his breath. Aang turned to look at him, incredulous and the old general practically began whistling in an effort to look innocent.

"Well sir, if you were planning on going to bed, we won't bother you." Suki wrapped one arm around Sokka's waist preparing to steer him away.

Iroh held up a hand. "Nonsense, it has been far too long since we were all together. I want to hear all about Kyoshi and the rebuilding at the South Pole."

"That reminds me; my father sent you a gift." Sokka said. "If we stop by our rooms I can get it for you."

"He didn't send some of that strange jerky again, did he?" The general asked with trepidation in his voice.

Sokka laughed, but Aang interrupted before he had a chance to answer. "I'm actually going to see if Toph is in her room first. I'll meet you at Iroh's apartments."

The water tribe warrior just waved him off, but Suki threw him a cheeky wink over one shoulder as they strolled away.

Aang couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed or exasperated at her knowing glance, he was too focused on the strange sense of unease that had settled over him when the clock struck ten and Toph still had not arrived. The tug from the Spirit world he'd been feeling since the North Pole, which had faded to the faintest of nagging reminders had increased slowly over the course of the evening; like a cord around his wrist pulling him gently but inexorably forward.

He knocked with probably more force than was necessary on Toph's door and pushed it open when she did not immediately answer. The room was dark, which in itself wasn't a surprise, she didn't actually need lamps to find her way, but it was also empty. The bedding she always dragged to the floor where she could sleep comfortably had been replaced on the mattress. There were no brushes or trinkets on the dressing table, no clothes strewn about the floor.

The only thing in the room was a piece of paper on the bureau, which Toph had dictated to some helpful servant, saying that she had received a letter from her school asking her to return as quickly as possible.

But who sends a blind girl a letter.

It was possible she had neglected to mention the coded cipher Toph had used with her bandits' for years, but she had told him months ago what to mention if he really needed her; exactly how to phrase the note and there was no mention of it here.

The insistent tugging turned to alarm bells in his head.

* * *

Sokka rolled his neck back and forth, trying to easy the stiffness of an awkward sleep out of his muscles. Mindful of the duties required this morning none of their group had imbibed enough liquor to be more than a little silly, but it had led him to fall asleep with his head at an awkward angle that had left his neck listing to the right ever so slightly.

He hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep either. Aang had rushed into Iroh's chambers in a whirl of panic waving a note saying Toph had skipped off back to the Earth Kingdom.

Sokka wasn't worried, not exactly. Toph was a capable woman and he certainly didn't expect she was in any danger, but leaving in the middle of the night, without demanding transportation from Zuko or Aang, and without saying goodbye - that unsettled him.

The last time she'd slipped away like this it had taken four months, a funeral, and an intervention before she'd come back to them. La take her damnable pride to the bottom of the ocean.

So when Aang, hopped up on spirit world warnings and other nonsense Sokka didn't pretend to understand or believe, insisted on going after her as soon as the sun rose he had tossed the Avatar the travel pack he'd brought along out of habit and wished him luck.

If something was wrong Aang would either fix it or send for their help. If not then he could be the one pelted with rocks for a change.

Sokka had matters of state to attend to this morning.

The whole idea of Petitioner's Day had baffled Sokka at first. You had a problem with the chief, you went up and asked him about it, or arranged to talk to him privately. At most you went to the elders for help first. Then the matter was decided and that was the end of the grievance.

Everything in the Fire Nation was such a production.

Still at least there was one day a year when citizens could actually speak with their ruler. The Earth King barely deigned to speak with anyone who wasn't a noble.

The day had become something of a farce under Ozai, and though Iroh had continued the tradition it hadn't really begun to change until Zuko took the throne. It had changed because Sokka had a tendency to be incredibly belligerent when hungover.

In the small hours of the morning after celebrating the equinox, Suki had woken beside him screaming and shaking from nightmares of the war. Sokka held her, as he always did, until the trembling subsided and she drifted back to sleep, raging at what had been done to the woman he loved. And rather than stay by her side until morning, as a shield against further bad dreams he had ignored his own pounding headache and summoned a bleary –eyed servant to teach him the protocol for a non-citizen to petition the Fire Lord.

The next morning, when the crowds had just settled in to the audience chamber he had strode up to the throne and demanded the execution of the Fire Princess.

To this day Sokka suspected it was shock more than training or restraint that kept Zuko's face impassive and his voice level, but he managed a reasonably compassionate refusal. They had stared at one another for a long moment until Zuko nodded deeply; Sokka had mimicked the movement taking it for a vow that they would finish things between them later.

When the flow of requests broke for lunch, Zuko had tried to knock his teeth out.

More clearheaded by then Sokka could admit that he had probably deserved it, but that didn't stop him from getting in a few good hits of his own before Suki pried them apart.

Sokka took it as proof of divine providence that a group of Zuko's ministers, overflowing with praise entered just at that moment. The tendency of Fire Lords over the last century to simply have anyone gainsaying their rule permanently silenced had transformed Petitioner's Day into a political sham, but Sokka's bold request and the fact that Zuko had given an actual answer was proof that things were truly changing.

Zuko had apologized badly, for the punch and Sokka had apologized with much more grace for springing it on him like that and the next year he asked again.

It became something of a draw for the people, a little bread and circus with some national pride thrown in. Sokka didn't really mind playing the exotic barbarian prince as long as he was still looked at with respect and a nation under the pall of shame after such a long and bloody conflict needed to feel the pride that could come from honourable refusal to those who had beaten them.

So he had dragged himself out of bed this morning and put on the dark blue leather and fur of a Water Tribe warrior, the adornments and jewellery that marked him as Southern Tribe and a potential chieftain in his own right. He strapped space sword and boomerang to his back and fit his totally unnecessary wolf helm under one arm and tried not to be jealous of how warm and comfortable Suki looked still wrapped up in bed.

The line of people crowding the antechamber just outside the audience hall was shorter than usual, and every alcove seemed to hold at least three fully armed Golden Shield guards. They directed him quickly to the front of the line, as per their strangely built tradition, and Sokka tried to look appropriately dignified and fearsome for the citizens who couldn't stop gawping at him.

The heavy wrought bronze doors opened inward to reveal the throne room that Sokka had always found rather dark and depressing, brightened by the masses of red-clad people who had come to observe. Zuko sat on the throne before the golden dragon mural, fire blazing on either side of him, but not cutting across the front of the platform to separate him from the petitioners.

Sokka still thought the formal robes of the Fire Lord looked like a dress. They had even more embroidery than his Kyoshi uniform.

He sauntered confidently forward, approaching closer to the throne than most of Zuko's subjects would dare and gave a warrior's salute, coupled with a bow that was perhaps too shallow for a monarch, but when you had spent the better part of eight years referring to him mostly as 'jerkbender', Sokka figured you were due for a few privileges.

"I Sokka, son of Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe, petition the Fire Lord for Azula, daughter of Ozai, to face the sword for war crimes."

Zuko nodded solemnly, pretending to give the matter serious consideration as he did every year. Sokka resisted the urge to bounce on the balls of his feet. He didn't mind the back and forth but the waiting was excruciating.

"Seconded."

The bold clear voice from the back of the room brought Sokka back to earth like being doused in glacier runoff.

"What?" He and Zuko said in unison.

He didn't recognize the well-heeled older gentleman with the silvering temples, but the Fire Lord obviously did. Zuko's eyes went wide. "Consul if you-"

"The request has been made and seconded my Lord. It can no longer be rescinded or simply dismissed without trial," the faintest trace of a smug smile appeared on the courtier's face as he finished the formal plea. "We, the free citizens, call for the execution of Princess Azula."

* * *

_A/N - Thank to to all my wonderful reviewers. I adore you guys!_

_A question - are any of my readers of an artistic bent? I keep chickening out of posting anything on dev art, but I am not ashamed (Or at least not completely ashamed) to solicit art from those with real talent. If you are bored, let me know. _

_This is where things get a little more exciting!_


	9. Koma

**IX. Koma**

* * *

It was to the credit of his staff that Zuko made it out of the throne room without starting an international incident, appearing catatonic or lighting anything on fire. Hopefully the melted armrests of the Fire Lord's golden throne would go unnoticed in the hubbub of the Golden Shield flanking him on all sides as his steward hauled him discreetly away.

It occurred to him, distantly, that he ought to ask where they were going; that he should return to the audience chamber and continue with the line of petitioners. He was running a kingdom, there was no time for fits of paralyzing shock.

Or soul crushing guilt.

Before he could formulate a proper protest, or gather himself to resist he was all but shoved through the concealed door into his private office. The sound of it clicking shut behind him went unheard as Katara spun to face him.

Two steps had her across the room, one hand coming up to press between his shoulder blades in the same silent gesture of support she'd offered the last time he had held the fate of his only sister this way, her whole body leaning forward, waiting for a signal, trying to read what he needed in the line of his brows.

"Zuko," She murmured, her voice soft and almost pleading. "What can I do?"

He wrapped his arms around her in answer, pressing his face to her hair and probably squeezing her too closely, but she just gripped him tighter in response.

"I almost killed him." Zuko told her, pulling away for fear of tainting the embrace with his own shameful weakness. "I wanted to. I could see him just lighting up, screaming and brining to ash at my feet for daring, for trying to break my family even further. Oh, Mother –" Ursa would be beside herself, she'd need him. He moved for the door as the thought occurred to him, but Katara reeled him back towards her.

"Your uncle is with her. You need to stay here."

Zuko didn't want to stay, he needed a task to focus on, someone else to care for or fight, something to push his feelings down to a safe distance; but Katara could never leave a wound untreated, no matter how he wanted to hold only his pain. It was one of the things he loved and hated about her.

"There are things to arrange, Petitioner's Day –"

"Has been postponed citing national emergency; an event with at least three incidences of historical precedence, which you would know if you spent half the time studying your country's history that I have." The tease was supposed to make him smile, but Zuko couldn't seem to summon up the expression.

Katara's eyes were sad as she pressed a kiss against the unmoving line of his mouth. "We all get angry Zuko. Being furious doesn't make you a bad person." She seized both sides of his face and forced him to meet her gaze. "You are a better man than your father." She said with firm conviction.

Becausewith him things always came back to that.

The fight went out of Zuko in such a rush that he staggered slightly with the force of it.

"How am I going to fix this?" He wondered aloud.

Katara released his face, sliding her palms down his arms to grasp his hands, "With my help."

* * *

Sokka looked like he was going to throw up.

He was the closest to pale Suki had ever seen him and she had no idea what to do. A servant had come to retrieve her right after the demand had been made, as the wronged party she would apparently be required to have some part in this mess.

A privilege that Suki most emphatically did not want.

She could have gone to Sokka, soothed him with the knowledge that none of this was his fault; reminded him that Azula was the beloved crown princess and that nothing would come of this manipulation of a cry for justice.

The problem was she didn't want it to be true; which was why Suki felt she might be sick right along with him.

Suki did not consider herself a bad person. She was not cruel or needlessly harsh. She was a firm taskmistress with those under her command, but she cared for them and tried to protect them at any cost to herself. She had slain men in battle, but had never murdered an innocent.

But there was nothing good about her now.

She had not asked Sokka to make his request on her behalf. It was something she would never have even considered, but she didn't avoid standing in the petitioner's circle with Sokka once a year because it was early or because she felt awkward; she didn't go because hearing Zuko refuse made her angry.

Suki had been bested in battle. No matter what she would say to anyone who asked about ambush and the element of surprise, Azula and her team had taken the Kyoshi Warriors apart. She had been captured and tortured and she wanted to cut her enemy down. And it wasn't to stop her doing more harm to others or in retaliation for the suffering of her girls – it was revenge, pure and terrible.

Something that none of her friends, not even a ferociously enraged Toph, would condone.

She had heard the story of Katara's icy path through the Fire Nation with Zuko at her side; ignoring Aang's pacifist principles to confront the man who had slain her mother. How she had found grace in the strength to step away from her own rage and the angry young prince who had followed her example. They no longer believed in retribution.

For Sokka and Toph, it was enough to know that they had won. Even now, as adults, the fact that Azula stood beaten and contained was satisfactory. Those two might be willing to go to extreme ends to achieve a mission objective, but they never carried their enmity with them off the battlefield. Once done, it was done for them and did not warrant further consideration.

But Suki's body was a wealth of thin white scars and rippled burn marks, courtesy of the princess. She hadn't slept more than eight days at a stretch without dreaming of the way Azula had laughed when she begged for mercy and even with Sokka at her side the nightmares could not always be soothed away. When they had first been captured Suki had demanded she take the punishment in lieu of her troops and Azula had made her choke on those words a thousand times during her months of torment. She had become the princess's favourite prisoner.

Now, when there should have been justice and victory, Suki and her suffering had been swept aside like a royal bastard relegated to a temple order to preserve the line of succession. In the Fire Nation the people still loved Azula; she was a misguided hero, swayed by familial devotion. No one knew her for the bloodthirsty monster that she was.

Suki contemplated, briefly, returning to her island home. Waiting out this chaos and separating herself from the turmoil it was sure to engender in her. No one would question her leaving. But even as the idea took shape in her mind, Suki knew it would not happen.

She would stay, for good or ill, and bear witness. And if they led the princess to the block, when they lifted her head nothing would change.

Except her bone deep satisfaction at seeing justice done.

* * *

Toph had never wanted to be one of those people who talked to themselves, but she reflected that at least she couldn't see if people were giving her strange looks.

Leaving the Fire Nation had been unexpectedly simple. With everyone out celebrating there was no one to ask after her destination when she crammed everything in her room into the bulging rucksack she'd arrived with. The note had been almost an afterthought, but with any luck it would keep anyone from coming after her.

Transport had been the hardest thing to find. It was a holiday in every one of the Nations tonight and no ships were leaving port. Her Bei Fong passport and a little quick name dropping had secured her a place on one of the mail transit airships that cycled back and forth between major cities in the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation every three days. It meant that she wouldn't be able to hide her movements from her parents, but since she was headed to Gaoling and the family estate anyways it didn't really seem to matter.

She needed information, from a source that would not alert any of her friends, and as Toph's own informant network was restricted mostly to those who tracked the movements of raiders and highwaymen, that meant working with her folks whether she liked it or not.

First and foremost though she had to find out what she was looking for. Which was what had resulted in her cramming herself between sacks of correspondence in the cavernous interior of the airship's massive balloon trying to contact the piece of a centuries dead woman's soul that was living in her mind.

So far "Hey Ummi!" had not worked.

She had tried to slip back into meditation the way she had the previous night but between the cacophonous noise of the air rushing through the balloon's interior and pausing every thirty seconds to call out to the spirit woman, she had not made much headway.

"Ummi, where do I start?"She asked the ether. "How do I find something that's been gone so long it's just a story?"

It was, ultimately the thought of stories that was leading her back to her childhood home. Toph had grown up isolated. Hidden away from the world she'd been denied friends, born blind she'd been reduced to the very simplest of pastimes. So she could play at least six instruments with passing proficiency and she had one nursemaid who told truly excellent stories.

Varrin had been a sweet voiced older woman who had lost almost all her family to the war. The Bei Fongs had hired her because at one point or another she had raised five children and been a historian of some standing at the University in Ba Sing Se. Despite the scandal of a highborn woman who worked, Lady Varrin's background made her a wise choice as a supplementary tutor and primary caregiver for their delicate lotus. She had managed to drum a few things into her charge's head; Toph knew the names of ever monarch in the earth king for ten generations, the history of the Fire Nation back to the casting of the dragon throne and the terms of every important treaty signed during Sozin's war. But the most important things she had ever heard from her nursemaid were the stories.

Even after meeting the badgermoles, after the world sharpened and clarified for the first time Toph had been lost. Feeling somehow deficient for not wanting what her parents were giving her. But when she was sure there were no other servants around to report back to the master and mistress of the house Varrin would tell her ancient tales of bold strong ladies and fierce feminine heroes, both mythological and historical and for the first time Toph began to realize that it might not be a failing to want the world she could feel beyond the estate's high walls.

Lady Varrin had been dismissed six months before Toph began Earth Rumble, the growing mistress no longer required a nursemaid whether she liked it or not, but she was still in Gaoling. Her association with the Bei Fong family had brought her much prosperity over the years and she still tutored the scions of prominent families in the city.

Outside that horrible sunken library – which would hardly do Toph any good without assistance – Varrin was the person most likely to have any information on where the stories of the face stealer might have originated.

Finishing the last gesture that completed the latest neat ellipsis of diamond on her chain, Toph wound the line back up beneath her waist sash and leaned back against one of the sacks which crunched lightly with the sound of flattening paper, her eyelids drooping as she was lulled by the white noise of the engine below.

_Toph_

The sound was so faint and far away that for a moment she thought it was only her imagination. But Ummi's sweet, soothing voice grew louder.

_Toph can you hear me? _

She wanted to protest the intrusion now, when the chance of sleep was finally within her grasp again after such a long and disconcerting night and interminably tedious morning. _Where were you three hours ago?_

_Trying to reach you over the cacophony. Did you need me?_

_Not really, just hoping I'd gone insane_. She sighed. _Can I talk to you? I mean whenever I want to, or do I need to be almost asleep? Because that is going to get old really quickly._

There was a snap of anger from nowhere and Toph was shocked to realize she could feel Ummi's emotions. _I am so sorry that my five hundred year imprisonment is ruining your sleeping schedule._

Had she been speaking physically Toph was sure she would have flushed with embarrassment, which just made her more irritated_. Five hundred years with this giant bug and you can't tell me anything about him?_

_I can tell you he's hungry_, Ummi said coldly_. I can tell you he hates with a ferocity that I'd never seen in life and I can tell you he misses the colour blue. We don't exactly chat._

_Blue, really?_ She couldn't stop herself from asking, however inappropriate, but it seemed to shock her 'companion' out of her anger.

_Apparently he misses the ocean. _

_The ocean?_

_He says that's why he talks to me. _

_Why you?_ Toph asked the question that had been plaguing her since she had gotten her mind to stop spinning last night. _He has other… faces or souls, why yours?_

_Because I'm still __**here.**_ She replied simply, the tone of her voice a shrug. _I am not his newest face, or his oldest, but I was the first one he stole that was tied to something that remains. We watch as he watches. Watch our families grow and diminish. Watch the lives of our loved ones play out like theater. That is what makes us falter in the end. To know that even in escape there is nothing left, no point because everything is gone. _

_But I loved Kuruk, so deeply, and he is not gone. His spirit remains on this plane to train his future incarnations and to search for me, and that knowledge allows me to retain something of myself_. Ummi's voice turned wry. _I'm the only person left to talk to._

"Mistress Bei Fong?"

The voice from the hallways of the airship cabins below startled Toph so badly that she slid away from the sack of letters she was dozing against and smacked her head painfully off the metal flooring. She scrabbled up, hoping that she hadn't been seen and moved to the top of the stairs.

"We're landing soon my lady. Would you like to-" He paused awkwardly, clearly about to ask if she wanted to watch the landing and realizing his mistake a beat too late.

Toph smirked and let him fidget for a long moment before taking pity. "I would like to get my things in order," As though she had more than one small rucksack. "Thanks."

She could feel his heartbeat slow with relief and chuckled just loud enough to let him know he was lucky to get away with the slip and sauntered past him down the stairs.

* * *

It was strange the way a place could feel the same after so many years, but Gaoling was just as she'd remembered it, right down to the smell of heavy spices and teas that filled the market surrounding the airship harbour and the drifting acrid alkaline scent of the tanneries on the outskirts of town. Toph might not have lived here for any significant time since she'd run away, but she had never spent even half as long in any other place and Gaoling would always be familiar to her.

There was no one waiting when the ship docked. Courier transports didn't usually carry passengers unless someone claimed an emergency or they had been very handsomely paid. Toph had done both to get herself away from the Fire Nation so quickly and she intended to use the time before her father's contacts realized that she was back in the city to get her answers.

Once upon a time she could have walked these streets as anonymous as any traveller, but between her triumphant return to retake the Earth Rumble championship belt a few years ago and her parents deliberately parading her about as proof that they were not ashamed of her, half the city knew her face.

Of course that worked to her advantage when she dipped out of the cool spring air and into the warmth of Varrin's small academy. It was just after noon by this point and Toph had hoped to catch the woman on her lunch hour, but the sound of childish voices from within told her she was either too late or too early. The young man who stepped through beaded curtains into the entryway in order to greet her, literally gasped in surprise when he recognized who was standing in the foyer and spun on his heel to race back the way he had come without a word.

Toph's ears were sharp enough to hear the commotion the boy caused interrupting the lesson going on in the classroom and she couldn't help but wince. Varrin was not going to be pleased about that. Nevertheless she appeared with alacrity in the doorway, her arms folded into her deep sleeves.

"Toph Bei Fong, what an honour."

Toph couldn't help but snort at the sarcasm in her old nursemaid's voice. "Your assistant seems jumpy."

Varrin directed her through another door on the opposite side of the room and into a small study set up for double duty as an office, the smell of dust on old parchment thick in the air. "Yes well, we've been studying you this past week; The last years of the war and the rise of Avatar Aang. You would not believe how many of these children have seen that awful play." The Ember Island Players had actually fled the Fire Nation to escape Zuko's wrath once he had heard that they were still performing 'The Boy in the Iceberg', but at least they had switched his scar to the correct side. "They've come to accept that you're female, but most of them still believe you're seven feet tall."

Toph barked a bitter laugh, she had always resented that she hadn't grown more when everyone else did. "You mean I don't rate a whole lesson on my own?"

"You're still young girl, give it time." Varrin laughed, steepling her fingers and leaning back in her heavily cushioned chair. "So what brings you to my door?"

She'd contemplated, on the way over, exactly how she was going to ask for what she needed. Instead she just blurted it out. "I need to know everything you know about Koh the Face Stealer."

Varrin whistled long, low, and unladylike. "Your story gets more interesting every day." She stood, walking to the row of shelves that lined one wall of the room, pulling down a book and flipping through it. "The face stealer… now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. A vengeance spirit, sometimes he's a trickster god; though he doesn't present with any reliable mortal form he does leave a … unique path of destruction."

Toph didn't bother turning to face her. "I need to know where he came from."

"Origin stories, hmm. There are too many different versions to be reliably sure, as always, but usually he's condemned by Enma for crimes against the balance and as punishment is made to serve as prison and prisoner in the spirit world."

"But if he was human at some point then where did he come from, where did he die?"

"Dear spirits my girl I have no idea!" Varrin exclaimed, snapping the thick sounding tome shut. "Do you want me to tell you the name of the first Avatar and the exact year Oma and Shu discovered bending as well? They are legends, child. Most of them are older than the separation of the four nations, but they do seem to come mostly from the people of the south western tribes."

"What tribes in the south west, the sandbenders?"

"No, no. The first Water Tribes." Toph knew her expression must have been all bewilderment from the way Varrin laughed. "You didn't think they sprang fully formed from the ice did you? We all started somewhere and the Water Tribe started in the swamps along the coast."

"Oh, Katara's going to love that." Toph had never ventured into the Foggy Swamp, but she had heard stories of the somewhat rustic denizens from Sokka and Katara, who thought of them as talented benders but mostly just hicks.

"Well the swamp is actually northwest of here, but not far." Varrin returned to the desk. "Tell me my girl, why do you need to know?"

Toph propped an elbow up on the desk and dropped her face into her upraised hand. "Varrin if I told you, you'd think I was a lunatic."

* * *

It was late by the time Aang and Appa finally landed in the bare earth courtyard of the small school in the hills outside Omashu, but the bison was almost instantly swarmed by children calling out excited greetings. They seemed more interested in his furry friend then Aang himself, rushing up to throw their arms around Appa and bury their faces in his fur, a few of the older ones stopped long enough to greet him politely, a social gesture he was sure Toph had nothing at all to do with.

Yanmei, the oldest and by far the most maternal of Toph's small group of warriors appeared on the low stone porch of the building with a wave. He smiled back but busied himself unbuckling the wide padded saddle from Appa's back, trying to work around small questioning fingers who wanted to help. By the time Appa was finally free Aang was laughing uproariously and he had three of the youngest children clinging to his back and shoulders like limpets. They had blossomed, since he and Toph had rescued them, beaten and abused from the clutches of the Black Fist anti-bender group six months ago. He had watched them change by leaps and bounds whenever he got a chance to visit and though they would never be rid of the experience entirely, Toph's dedication to her charges welfare had been nothing short of miraculous.

Yanmei relieved him of his burden and he staggered up the steps. "Welcome Avatar."

"Still not going to call me Aang?" He gave her a cheeky grin, trying to wrestle a squirming six year old off his shoulders.

"I am trying to teach them some manners," She sighed as the giddy Lan came flying out of the house in a flurry of freckles and braids to throw her arms around Aang in a bear hug.

"Hey arrow-head!"

"….It's a losing battle." Yanmei said long-sufferingly.

"Toph's not here though," Lan told him. "She's in the Fire Nation still."

That made him laugh again. "Did I beat her here? That will teach her to run off without asking for a ride."

"Run off?" Yanmei looked concerned. "Where did she go?"

"Here. She left a note saying she'd gotten a letter from you and needed to head back to the Earth Kingdom," There was a rising sense of trepidation Aang was trying to ignore deep in his gut as the girls looked at one another in confusion.

"Ayashu!" They called in unison as they each took an arm and practically frogmarched him through the building and into the kitchen, where Toph's fierce and prickly second in command was rather innocuously washing vegetables.

The domesticity of the whole place made Aang smile irrepressibly. Toph's students were warriors; powerful and strong benders who were trained to use their skills to protect the innocent and bring the criminal to justice, but here they were building this school into a home, right down to teaching the children how to use their bending to build the garden he had seen spreading over the hill as he and Appa had landed. It reminded him bittersweetly of his childhood at the Southern Temple. Even rebuilt it seemed so empty Aang was reluctant to spend any time there. This sort of communal home was what the soaring stone walls were meant for: a family.

"Did you write to Toph?" The demand snapped Aang out of his reverie as Ayashu turned at the question and her eyes widened in surprise when her gaze landed on him.

"Aang?"

"We seem to be missing a master earthbender." He said sheepishly. "She left a note saying you had called her home."

Ayashu shook her head mutely and Aang collapsed into the one of the chairs around the beaten oak table with an exhalation that was half frustrated growl. "I knew it."

"You think something is wrong." The words were not a question. Ayashu abandoned her task, domiciliary veneer peeling away to show the soldier underneath.

"I had a feeling," He admitted. "She left in the middle of the night. If it wasn't an emergency here where else would she have gone?"

"There were no signs of a struggle?"

"No, everything was just gone."

"Well then she's bound to be fine," Lan tossed off their concern, though there was a tightness at the corner of her eyes. "If someone had tried to kidnap the commander there would be a giant hole in the Fire Palace where she'd fought them off."

_Not if they drugged her._ Aang's mind oh so helpfully supplied_. Not if they snuck in while she was sleeping and she didn't wake because she was expecting you to crawl in beside her. _

"If she'd been kidnapped there would be a ransom demand. Not a note that said everything was fine." Ayashu said emphatically. "The commander's hiding something from us – from you." She redirected her angry stare at Aang. '_What did you do?'_ seemed written in every line of her posture.

He held up his hands defensively. "The last time I saw her she seemed fine. Where would she have gone that she wouldn't have wanted anyone to know about?"

Yanmei cleared her throat. "…Maybe her parents? I mean Toph is touchy about her family, if something was wrong with her and her parents she might not want anyone to know."

They shared a considering look around the table. "Actually that makes sense," Ayashu admitted.

"You should look for her there before we get any more worried for no reason," Lan agreed with a cheeky wink at him.

"Toph's parents…" Aang dropped his head into his hands. The last time he'd seen Lao and Poppy Bei Fong it had been the coronation of the forty-third Earth King and though they had never gotten close enough to actually speak to him before he managed to sidle away, the glare Toph's father had levelled at him could have cracked a mountain. They were both firmly of the opinion that Aang had, if not outright kidnapped Toph, then had most assuredly been the one to turn her against her doting parents and into the world of bending and fighting and dirt.

The Avatar showing up on their doorstep uninvited (again) looking to whisk their daughter away (again) was probably not going to go over well.

"Spirits, isn't there another Fire Lord I can fight instead?"

* * *

The guards brought her boarqupine stew which meant that it was Tuesday and she had been good. Things like visits and memories were subjective and she still occasionally recalled events that had not actually taken place, but the rhythms of her food at least were consistent and trustworthy because it was never exactly what she felt like eating. She preferred boar meat on skewers with a spicy dipping sauce but they couldn't serve her that because she might have used the brittle bamboo sticks as weapons. The guards did not carry weapons either. Not that they needed to, they were chi blockers after all and well used to her escape attempts after so many years when all she had known was the swirling fire-dark rage.

The floodwaters of madness had receded now, enough that she was considered to be improving. Not enough that she was entrusted with more than one handkerchief at a time when too much time in the cold with too little exercise made her ill. Still, her island of crumbling desperate reason remained and grew, fed by her own iron will and the Shogi board at her feet.

It helped her to think in the patterns of the ancient strategy game. Shogi was not Pai Sho, where a win could be counted many different ways; it was for a mind with only one central goal. Many paths, one objective.

There was a sweet roll with her meal this evening, which meant it was a special day. She couldn't remember exactly which one, but she gave the guard delivering it the polite, slightly too warm smile she had been practicing. The expression felt awkward and strange on her face, as though she was moving her mouth while it was caked with thick facepaint, but the servant responded with a slightly surprised look and then returned the social convention looking pleased, which meant that it was functioning exactly how she remembered it should.

She moved one piece across the board decidedly, studying the potential movements that her opponent might make in response tomorrow and ignoring the swirling madness tugging at the edges of her thoughts. It pleased those who watched her to think that she was becoming capable of politeness and social niceties once more. She did not mind what they thought; Azula was interested only in what helped her, her only focus was the game.

* * *

_A/N - Cripes, FF.n would not let me post this. Seriously, I've been trying for five solid days. Big crazy thanks to _Mechanical Orange_ who told me how to get around the problem. Hopefully you haven't all abandoned me!_

_Enormous thanks to _4EyedBlond_ who made me art! I will link it in my profile because it is very cool and should be appreciated. _


	10. Torn in Two

**X. Torn in Two**

* * *

Toph woke to the smell of cherry blossoms and the sound of her mother clucking in disapproval.

There was dirt sliding through her hair as well as between her toes and for a moment Toph couldn't resist the urge to stretch languidly, even as she remembered where exactly she had bedded down the previous night.

She deliberately opened her eyes and turned unnecessarily to where Poppy Bei Fong perched demurely on the ornamental garden bench.

"Honestly Toph, you have a bedroom," She scolded gently. "The servants had to tell me where you'd gone off to.

She couldn't fault her mother's logic. Toph did indeed have a richly appointed suit in her parent's palatial home and most of the time she did enjoy the little taste of the luxuries she'd grown up with. That had taken time in itself; when she had first returned to Gaoling after two years of traveling with her friends she'd dreaded the life of privilege she'd grown up with as though it was an encroaching disease, her mind conjuring up all sorts of horrible ideas of what they might do to keep her confined this time.

Toph knew that her suspicion had been rather unfair, but she had been building up the evils of her parents for so long that she'd forgotten that though they were overbearing, they'd never deliberately injured her or been anything more than frustratingly strict**. **Having a best friend with only half his face intact brought a very clear sense of perspective when it came to your own family.

That hadn't stopped the choking fear though; when she was still a girl the absolute certainty that she would be incapacitated somehow and forced into the role of dutiful daughter had haunted her for weeks after she'd returned to her family's house. Her terror only increased when she'd found that the badgermoles were gone from the caves at the edge of her parents estate and the tunnels where she had first learned earthbending had been filled in. Her father had denied any involvement, suggesting that the kind beasts might have moved on once she'd left, but she had been too full of paranoid dread to listen, blasting the warrens back open in the vain hopes that her friends would return. Unable to rest, Toph would remain awake, lying alert on her own bed until the estate went quiet around her and then sneak out to the ornamental orchard and sleep in the soft dirt under the cherry trees, trusting her safety to the earth that loved her so well.

It wasn't until she had woken to her mother weeping with frustrated grief beside her that Toph suspected she was perhaps being a touch unfair. Now she returned to the trees only when sleep was impossible. She'd been unable to stop combing her mind for any trace of something that wasn't her; scrutinizing her memories of Aang for the whisper of Ummi's involvement and trying to shut out the half-hearted reassurances of her water tribe passenger, until she stepped out into the cool damp of the spring night, hardening herself against the weather and slamming up an earth tent to keep the wind away.

It was Poppy's rather weak bending banishing the small structure that had roused Toph from her dreams and now she just knew her mother was looking at her expectantly.

"Couldn't sleep." She offered.

Poppy tutted, but rose from her seat with a gesture that meant Toph should do the same. "Well come on, you're filthy and we're expecting company for brunch."

"Mother, I have to leave this morning. I told you both that last night."

"Yes, yes. Your very important mission from the Fire Lord that you can't explain to us under penalty of death," Poppy repeated her words from the previous night in the tone of someone who wasn't buying them for a second. "If it were more urgent than breakfast dear, he would have sent more men."

"He needed stealth, subtlety!" Toph protested, Ignoring the way that her mother paused to very deliberately turn back and stare at her, strongly suggesting that she thought her daughter was about as subtle as a landslide.

"You can be on your stealthy way after brunch. Though I do wish you would stay longer, we see you so rarely," Toph braced pointlessly for the inevitable avalanche of guilt. "Your father frets over you so much, we're both very impressed with what you're doing for those poor children of course, but we do worry about you being able to support yourself when we're gone."

"Mother…"

"And you know we're getting on in years, and your father would so love to have you learn the business properly. If you'd just put your mind to it Toph-"

"Mother, I'll stay for breakfast!" Toph's famous iron will crumbled like wet clay under the onslaught as she wondered, not for the first time, why oh why the spirits had been cruel enough to never gift her parents with a second child.

She could practically feel the satisfaction rolling off Poppy Bei Fong like her expensive floral perfume. "Excellent darling, we're having guests so go get clean." She glided away across the grass with alacrity, suddenly deaf to Toph's protests from the other side of the lawn.

Letting out a quiet shriek of exasperation Toph took her muddy fingers and defiantly smeared two earth streaks under each eye like warpaint. "Fine," She muttered. "Bring it on."

* * *

An hour later she'd been scrubbed, anointed, brushed, painted and perfumed within an inch of her life by maids she was no longer used to having with very cold fingers; all but shoved into a pair of flowing silk trousers and a long embroidered surcoat, and practically marched into the dining room.

When her mother had said guests for breakfast, Toph knew she should have expected something like this. It was, essentially, a party; there were well over a dozen people in her dining room, and Toph couldn't help but wonder when her mother had arranged all this between her late afternoon arrival and this morning.

Her father's measured step had been audible from down the hallway but Toph did not react to him until he spoke, a reflex she had never been able to shake from the days when her seismic sense had been a secret - not that they truly believed even now that she could see better than most people. She had explained it, more than once, but her father was not a bender and she could tell that her mother didn't really understand how to listen to the earth's call the way Toph could. When she was a child she'd taken great delight in unsettling them but today she dipped her head in deference at his greeting.

"Father."

"Welcome home daughter." He said formally and loud enough for the room to hear, as though she had only just arrived and they hadn't been grilling her on every single aspect of her life over dinner last night. "It is good to have you back with us."

Toph placed her hand on his arm as she knew she was supposed to and let him lead her towards the dining table and the people whose gazes she could practically feel on her skin. Lao dropped her arm after a moment and took his place with her mother at the head of the table as the guests moved to greet her and Toph barely suppressed a grimace at her parents' blatant attempt to introduce her to those they considered suitable men. Not that any of the toadying wealthy families or minor nobles would see it as such; this was exactly what was expected for a daughter of the Bei Fong family.

Moving quickly Toph ensconced herself in the seat next to Lady Varrin and her apprentice, pretending to be completely unaware of her mother's disapproval as she casually ruined the, no doubt militarily precise, seating arrangements.

Varrin was invited only because Toph had very publicly visited her the day before, but she was still pathetically grateful for her old nursemaid's presence – especially when Varrin was obliging enough to coo over Toph's sitting next to her, effectively halting any attempts to remove her from her seat.

The moment the food was brought out and everyone dispensed with the banal formalities of greeting and began to actually eat, Toph turned to Lady Varrin, intending to forestall any misguided suitors attempts to speak. She had not been expecting the woman's own assistant to leap so catastrophically into the fray.

"My Lady Bei Fong, it was such a thrill to meet you yesterday," He gushed. "If you need any assistance with your research please allow me to offer my services."

Varrin choked into her tea but before she could remind the lad of his duties to her, the young man across the table spoke. "Have you discovered another bending technique Grandmaster?" He leaned forward across the table, and Toph could feel the heavily muscled mass of his body shift; a warrior, probably a skilled bender himself given the use of the Grandmaster title.

"Say it is not so, Princess," The lordling to Varrin's left broke in with a deliberate emphasis on the title that had plagued her much too long. "You are already so skilled. Soon you will be like Oma herself," Toph wanted to laugh at the audacity of such a trite compliment. He lowered his tone and she could practically feel the heat of his eyes on her. "Though much more beautiful."

"Princess?" The scholar stuttered. "Does that mean the Earth King has finally proposed?" The whole table paused at that statement, but the boy seemed not to notice, continuing blithely onward. "There was much talk of it after you rescued his son last fall."

"That," Toph managed to grit out around her clenched jaw. "Was the Avatar."

"So hope remains," The flattering lord all but cried. "We still have a chance to win your heart."

Someone was going to get squashed, she decided.

"The Grandmaster deserves better than a place on a string of concubines," The warrior said emphatically, as though he was affronted at the slight against Toph's honour; never mind that most rulers in the Earth Kingdom had more than one wife without shame against any. "She is Princess in her own right, of the first benders city."

"Actually that's Prince Haru now." Varrin interjected absently, as though she wasn't smothering her laughter poorly into her cup of tea.

"That is unfair my lady," Varrin's assistant assured her. Toph tried not to roll her eyes. "Your strength and courage during the war have earned you the right to rule."

"She gave it up to teach bending. The true calling of a great warrior is to pass on their knowledge to strengthen our land."

"Wise and compassionate, as well as lovely. It is no wonder you are yet to find someone worthy of you, Princess."

At the head of the table her mother sighed dreamily. Toph lifted all her toes but one free of the floor, not wanting this foolishness impressed upon her any more than was absolutely necessary.

Her father was utterly engrossed in a business conversation with one of his partners, thought it was unlikely he would have offered her help if he had noticed. Lao would have been too busy evaluating which one of her suitor's family holdings would best serve the Bei Fong interests. She couldn't help wishing Aang was here to tap out his reassuring blend of sympathy and amusement on the flagstones for her to read.

"I wonder, Grandmaster, if you would consider taking me on as a pupil? I am sure your skills would make me unstoppable." Toph barely had the chance to turn his way before the warrior's request was dismissed by the scholar on her right.

"You think your skills enough to train with the Sifu of the Avatar?"

He cracked his knuckles, clearly attempting to intimidate the academic. "I would face any challenge for the opportunity."

The lord hummed in agreement. "There are few gauntlets I would not face for the chance to kneel at your feet, Princess."

That, Toph decided, was quite enough.

She was sure her face must be more of a rictus than a smile as she tried to resist the urge to bend the impudent young man into the hallway through the dining room wall, pointing her chopsticks at him accusingly.

"Oh," She said with a coquettish sort of giggling sigh. "You are too kind."

Toph tried for a split second to actually look at her own mouth in astonishment, because she most definitely had not been intending to say that.

_Do you want to get out of here fast?_ Ummi's voice demanded in her head. _Then do what I say_.

_You spoke for me!_

_You weren't paying attention!_

She staggered to her feet, chair scrapping loudly and cutting off the quiet conversation. Reading her cue a serving girl stepped into the room and broke the awkward silence. "Miss Bei Fong a messenger has come for you from King Bumi." At which point everyone naturally assumed that was why Toph had risen and regular conversation resumed, but Toph knew her father was watching her like a hawk.

"Forgive me father," Toph said, too thrown to bow. "Honoured guests. I must attend to this."

She made it into the hallway before she started to panic.

_Just get on the road._ Ummi was reassuring in her head. _The sooner we can get me out of here the better. _

Her bag was still packed and waiting at the door to her room, though it did not have everything she would have packed for a long journey through the wilds, Toph was definitely not dragging this bewildering situation out any further to return to her school and prepare. A quick word to the maid had the girl running to the kitchen for provisions while Toph stripped out of her finery with the alacrity of an army cadet, happy to exchange the silks for her travelworn clothes.

_Why in the spirits name did you do that?_

_Why were you so ready to injure them for nothing?_

_Because they're idiots!_ Really Toph did not understand what the problem was. _Why would you ever want to pander to people like that?_

_They were courting you!_

_Well nobody asked them to. Besides I don't, I …. Aang! _She spat unintelligibly, unwilling to admit whatever she might have been possibly feeling, even inside her own head.

_And when you don't have him anymore? _

Toph had no answer for that. Only a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach she had been filling with denial for the past three days.

_I don't know what will happen when we get me out of you – _

_Whatever happens I don't need to put up with that nonsense! I don't need a husband for money, I don't need one for status, __and I certainly don't need more children to take care of. _Toph ranted, yanking on her tunic with vicious force.

_How long do you think your father will allow you to go on without choosing someone?_

_I'd like to see him try._

_I have watched stronger people than you waste away without love. _Ummi warned, the weight of bitter experience in her voice.

_And you think I should be angling for a good match by playing into th__is ridiculously courtly drivel? It's just pathetic! _

_If you had not been born an earthbender, _interrupted Ummi smoothly. _If you were still as bold and sure, still Toph but without your strength, exactly where would you be? _

_I don't know._

_You'd be here_. She practically spat the words. _You would be here without ever having saved the world, stuck playing this game to win yourself the most security and autonomy possible. Maybe you'd have proved yourself worthy to run the business, but your father would still want you married. _

Ummi was right, as loath as Toph might be to admit it. The reason there had been no insistence that she wed was primarily because of her connections and the fact that her parents did not want to lose her entirely. Without Zuko, Katara and Sokka she'd probably have been married already and considering her 'damaged' state, likely to nobody good.

_Is__ that what happened to you?_

_Women of the Northern Tribe have no rights. If I hadn't met Kuruk…_ Ummi's tone turned hard. _I'll do what I have to in order to get what I need._

Toph thought about mentioning that it had been a long time since Ummi had lived, that things were different now, that Katara's grandmother was living proof things were not so hopeless and inevitable. But she had a feeling that the water tribe woman was past listening right now.

Which really just made her wish Ummi was corporeal so Toph could smack her around the head.

"Mistress?" The return of the maid jerked Toph from her internal discourse.

"Thank you." Toph slid on her vambrace-like metal cuffs and took the offered haversack. The food pack strapped easily to her larger knapsack was not enough to hold her for more than a couple of days, but its weight was more practical for travel on foot. "Tell my parents that I was called away," She sighed. "And please try to convince them not to send trackers after me this time."

_Let's get you the hell out of my head._

* * *

It seemed that there were actually protocols in place for the judgement of a royal for war crimes.

Katara read the list over again without actually seeing it, just to give the appearance that she was dedicated to her task rather than inwardly despairing over the fact that no matter how hard they fought, the world would never be fixed. She had come to terms with that knowledge a long time ago after the third time an assassin had tried to murder Zuko and she'd found out he was from the water tribes, but it still occasionally left her close to sobbing with anger and frustration.

The list had been drafted by the ambassador from Ba Sing Se according to his own best recollections. Apparently the man had studied legal history in the city's famed university. A wastrels career for the fourth son of a noble house during wartime, who had suddenly found himself invaluable at the end of a hundred year conflict, he'd handed copies out to Zuko's cabinet with relish, seemingly happy to torment anyone for actually requiring his knowledge.

Katara had chilled all the liquid in his food and drink to freezing in retribution and then felt thoroughly ashamed of herself.

The trial could not be officiated by a traditional Fire Nation magistrate, which was of course, exactly what Katara would have expected if she'd ever bothered to give the matter any thought. Obviously any national court would be biased in Azula's favour; but that was far from the only problem which had no easy solution.

There had been no unity between the nations for more than a hundred years, almost every single one of the laws that had once governed conduct in times of war had been broken over the last century, most of them by the Fire Nation – and most had been excused under the treaty signed after Ozai's fall – but Zuko had barely gotten the chance to pull himself together before a document listing the princess's crimes had been delivered by herald to the Palace.

Consul Tei Kahn had done his work well it seemed and Katara cursed herself for not finding more proof of his illicit dealings in time to stop him. Not that it would do any good now; if she brought evidence against him unsuccessfully it would appear that the crown was trying to silence it's opponents through underhanded means and even if they could get him arrested the original claim had been made by Sokka and another of the Consul's cabal would simply step in to second it .

It was painfully clear the man hadn't been working alone.

Now the crown was tasked with organizing a codification of the law under which Azula could be tried and how on earth they were going to do so.

Katara's first thought had been that the Council of Four Nations ought to sit as judges, but no fewer than five emissaries from different courts around the Earth Kingdom had been sent or couriered notice of their imminent arrival to 'assist with a trial of such importance'; which meant they had a matter of days before the whole thing turned in to an enormous excuse to drag up old grievances from the war and interfere with Fire Nation sovereignty.

Zuko was still being quiet enough that she knew he was half a breath away from burning down the whole palace. Katara had sent word for an emergency convening of the extended Council of Nations but that would still be weeks away and their authority would be weakened unless they could track down wherever Aang had run off to and if she had to dodge one more unhelpful remark about her 'barbarous origins' from a bigoted minister who thought she was unqualified to lead this committee, she was going to freeze everyone to the walls and shout at them until they got the message that now was not the time for petty grievances.

Katara almost screamed in frustration when she moved to cross out a clause from her drafted list of regulations and found that the ink in her brush had frozen when she wasn't paying attention.

A steward touched her shoulder lightly and she put down the now useless writing tool. "Gentlemen," Her voice rang out loud enough in the stuffy quiet of the room to startle a few of the ministers. "Lunch is being served in the secondary dining room. Let us convene again in two hours." Katara emphatically did not phrase it as a question or request and swept out of the room first, as was her due, before any protest could be made.

Sokka was waiting for her in the shadow of the pillars that lined the hall, the blue of his clothing like a beacon against the red, black, and gold of everything in the palace, cool and soothing in its familiarity. She caught his arm without speaking or breaking stride and pulled him after her down a side corridor, away from any minister who might try to catch her ear thinking to gain her trust in an informal setting.

They ducked into a small parlour, blandly furnished and clearly meant for guest use and Katara sagged against the door as though she could keep out the whole world behind it. "I hate those guys."

Her brother looked haggard, faint purple shadows under his eyes telling her that he had not slept, but a smirk split his dour expression at her words. "Aren't you supposed to be staying diplomatic?"

"Not with you." She slid down the carved wood, ignoring for a moment the elaborate scarlet silk crumpling beneath her. "What a mess."

Sokka looked gutted. "You know I didn't – I wasn't part of this."

"I know," She said reassuringly. "Anyone who saw your face could see you were as shocked as the rest of us Sokka, you're a terrible liar. It's why you always end up pantsless when you play As-Nas with Toph."

"She should not be able to play that game as well as she does."

"That's your fault for making her raised cards," she replied archly. "And Suki's for teaching her to cheat."

The mention of Suki's name seemed to suck all the levity from the room instantly. "Is she…" Katara had no idea how to ask such a question. "Is she alright?"

"I think so," Sokka threw up his hands helplessly, pacing in front of her. "Spirits, I don't know. How do I ask her that? 'I got someone you hate sentenced to death for you, would you like to go into the city to get lunch?' That is not a conversation I am equipped to have."

"I could try," Katara offered. Suki must be just as tormented as Sokka right now; she was a kindhearted person and knowing that she was being used as an excuse to undermine Zuko's rule must be eating at her.

"No…maybe – I honestly have no idea. She's been keeping to herself since yesterday morning."

"Maybe she just feels helpless."

"Yeah I can relate." Sokka shrugged. "I was thinking I could write to the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors – I mean she probably has already, but if Suki has to stay she'd probably want the support."

Katara resisted the urge to cringe at the thought of what fallout a dozen Kyoshi warriors might cause if they appeared in the Fire Nation palace right now. "Maybe just Ty Lee?" She suggested innocently. "She grew up here after all and if Suki is feeling unsteady about all this she won't want all her warriors to know."

He laughed a little. "I suppose you're right. Mai would probably like to see her too."

That brought Katara up short. Mai had not even occurred to her. The fierce, pale woman had forsaken Azula for Zuko long ago, it was true, but they had also been friends for most of their lives. She resolved to seek Mai out at her next free moment. They may not have been terribly close, but they had a tentative friendship and Katara wanted to be there if Mai needed a sympathetic shoulder.

For now she redirected her attention to Sokka. He looked up from his perusal of the floor tiles and ceased pacing when he felt the weight of her gaze on him and from the resigned expression on his face Katara could tell that he knew what she was going to ask before she had even opened her mouth.

"Will you withdraw your petition?"

It wouldn't fix anything, but it would remove some credibility from the Consul's demand for Azula's head, and it might allow the Fire Nation to claim this as a domestic issue, capable of being handled by just the Council and their own laws.

"No."

There must have been some unconscious expression on her face because Sokka's sad frustration began to spin out into anger. "I can't Katara, you know what she – what that monster did to Suki. I didn't mean for this to happen but it's not wrong. I know you love Zuko but Azula has done horrible things. If she were water tribe she would have been left on the ice long ago and you know it."

"Things are different here Sokka-"

"And that makes her less of a danger?" Conditions at the poles were harsh and only the hardiest of people could survive, especially after the purges began and the lack of waterbenders made everything more difficult. While they would all band together for as long as they could to help the injured or pregnant who could not pull their weight for a time, there was nothing to spare for those who endangered the welfare of the tribe.

Under the laws of the tundra, Azula's madness alone would have been enough to have her left behind when she could not be cured, lest she infect the tribe, but the princess had killed the men Ozai placed under her command, she had harmed and threatened people under her regency and she was a risk. In all likelihood, as long as Azula lived she would never stop being a risk.

"She's imprisoned, isn't that enough?" Her protest sounded weak, barely token resistance, because other than sparing Zuko and Ursa grief, she could conjure no compelling argument for mercy.

"You wanted her dead once too Katara. As long as Azula lives, Zuko will never rest easy on the throne. Don't forget that." Sokka pulled one side of the double doors open and left her there on the floor in a half abandoned room of her adopted home knowing deep in her bones that he was right.

* * *

_A/N - I've gotten a ton of favorites lately and I just wanted to say thanks to those of you reading. It's always good to know you are out there, and if you feel a pressing need to leave feedback then far be it from me to argue._

_P.S. Kimberly T, darling I adore you but you have to stop guessing things! Not that I can confirm or deny anything, you're just giving me more ideas. _


	11. Would you go along?

**XI. Would you go along with someone like me? **

* * *

Aang had wanted to wait, wanted to check Omashu or Ba Sing Se, would have gone back to the Fire Nation just on the off chance that Toph might have returned there, if it hadn't been for the bone deep twinge of wrongness that had plagued him since her disappearance.

He still practically had to dip into the Avatar state to make himself land Appa outside the gate to the Bei Fong's estate.

What it really came down to wasn't Aang's worry that he would make a fool of himself, or that he might blurt out _'I'm desperate to be despoiled by your daughter'_ in front of the great and terrible Lao Bei Fong. It was that he didn't really like Toph's parents very much.

Zuko would have scoffed at that, and Sokka would have put a brotherly arm around his shoulders and reminded Aang that he liked everyone, but it really wasn't true. He was happy to open himself up to anyone, eager to give the whole world the opportunity to be his friend. Aang was always willing to take a chance on the good inside people.

But that didn't mean he had to like them.

The philosophy of the air nomads decried the notion of ownership. Coveting material possessions tied one to the material world, weighing down a person's body the way that struggles and grievances weighed down a soul. That was why the Nomads didn't marry the way other cultures did; there were to be no false bindings between them, each belonged to each other and could share themselves how they saw fit.

Kuzon had almost laughed at Aang's bewilderment the first time he'd seen his house, his village, his parents; not understanding that for a seven year old air nomad even the notion of privacy was incomprehensible. As he had grown into a sense of himself, and been further separated by his mastery of airbending some of that strangeness had faded away, but Aang could never quite shake his unease amongst those whose lives were defined by the act of owning.

If there was one family in the whole Earth Kingdom who embodied that, it was the Bei Fongs.

A family who held no noble title, pledged themselves in defense of no land or people, who stood for nothing but the empire they had built themselves on money and everything that it could do.

In some ways it was admirable and Aang knew enough about the wend and weft of people to understand that what worked for the insular and dedicated population of Air Nomads would not work for a country as vast and diverse as the Earth Kingdom. He understood that his own life had hardly been typical of his brethren, but it did mean that he would never be quite comfortable around Lao Bei Fong.

The feeling, Aang noted as he was ushered through the richly appointed home by bowing servants into the presence of the Bei Fong patriarch who looked as though someone had force fed him a lime, whole, appeared to be mutual.

There was the whole stealing away his daughter in the dead of night to drag her off into battle and danger thing as well, but Aang preferred to think it was simply difference brought on by disparate socioeconomic perspectives. In some small way it made him feel as though Lao was less likely to have him beheaded.

_There is no way he knows you want to be despoiled by his daughter._ Aang reminded himself fervently offering a nod that might actually be more deferent than the one he gives the Earth King.

"Avatar Aang," Lao smiles politely, every inch of his bearing scrupulously ceremonious. "It is an honour to have you grace my humble household."

"I was hoping to speak with your daughter," Aang said, uninterested in dancing around his purpose.

Lao's lip curled with displeasure for a split second before he could banish the expression, but the sound of a lilting laugh from the doorway interrupted the rising alpha contest Aang hadn't noticed he was contributing to until it stopped. "Have you come to steal our Toph away again Avatar?"

It might have been more than eight years since he'd last seen her, but Poppy Bei Fong hadn't changed one iota, she still looked almost too perfect and delicate to be real, like a priceless porcelain vase that might shatter if touched or breathed on to roughly. Toph looked more like her mother now, he noted, but his earthbending master's delicacy was an illusion crafted from tempered steel. He couldn't help but wonder how much iron will Poppy's fragility disguised or whether Toph just got that from her father.

"Toph is not here." Lao told him. "She left yesterday."

"In the middle of brunch," Poppy sighed.

Aang bit his lip to stop from laughing, an action that neither of Toph's parents missed, Poppy's lips quirking infinitesimally and Lao clearing his throat. "She mentioned some sort of errand for the Fire Lord. Perhaps you would have more luck asking him."

"Ah," Aang said as though he didn't know for certain that Zuko had not sent Toph anywhere. "Did she mention where she was heading?"

"Nothing specific."

This meant that Toph's Father hadn't asked or she hadn't told them, very probably both.

"Ah,' He repeated and then immediately felt like an utter fool. "I won't bother you any further then."

But before he could bow and make good his escape, Poppy had crossed the room and caught his elbow. "Nonsense, we could not possibly be such poor hosts as to let you leave so quickly. I am afraid that my honourable husband has business in town today but I was just about to take tea in the garden, won't you join me?"

The look Lao levelled at his wife made it fairly clear that he did not have business of any sort in Gaoling and that he knew exactly what she was doing and resented her interference, but Aang didn't see how he could refuse. Toph couldn't bear her parents and loved them in equal measure with a sort of resigned, obligatory affection that Aang had no reference for and it made him rather pathetically interested in winning their approval, so he followed her mother's gentle tug like a koalalamb to the slaughter.

The garden was bright with new growth, and the high sun chased away the last traces of winter's coolness that laced through the breeze.

"So I take it my daughter is not on a mission from the Fire Lord." It wasn't a question.

"No, I – or we were there. She disappeared from the palace in the middle of the night. I thought she'd gone back to her students," He scrubbed at the back of his neck like a gawky adolescent. "I was worried she'd been kidnapped actually."

"Spirits have mercy on anyone who tried to kidnap my Toph," Poppy laughed and Aang politely refrained from mentioning that she herself had tried that when Toph had first left with him.

"Well I'm glad she's alright for the moment. All I have to do now is find her."

"Is she needed back in the Fire Nation?" A serving girl appeared from nowhere and poured their tea elegantly and with what was likely great ceremony, which Aang was much too tense to appreciate, before vanishing with equal subtlety, leaving he and Poppy alone in the quiet garden.

"No, I think Zuko was happy for the reprieve."

"Something amiss with her students then?"

He shook his head. "No, they're well."

"But you need her." The remark was almost a query, almost innocuous enough that Aang could answer glibly without thinking and he nearly gaped at her; wondering if Lao's disapproval of her invitation was at all genuine, and exactly how many businessmen or nobles made wary by the Bei Fong patriarch's fearsome reputation were put at ease and drained of their secrets at this very table by the lovely, disingenuous, _deceptive _Poppy.

All Aang had heard about mothers from his friends had been tales of their sweetness and comfort, yet every time he met one properly they turned out to be quite frankly terrifying. A quick mental review had him amending the category to all women. If he had hair, Aang was sure he'd be running his fingers through it nervously.

"I like being with her," He said, echoing Toph's words the first time she'd kissed him, practically able to taste the rain on her lips with the memory.

"I hope you understand that Toph's honourable father will not look kindly on a match as one of your courtesans for the repopulation of the Air Nomads."

Aang was fairly certain his face had turned purple with mortification. "What? No – I – No!"

"It is expected," Poppy's tone was completely bland, as though they might simply have been discussing the rainy spring weather, "that you will repopulate the Air Nation in the… manner traditional to your forbearers. No doubt there are many of less discriminating taste that would find the novelty appealing,"

Aang made some garbled noise that might vaguely have been a question but Poppy simply raised an eyebrow at him. "While we are all grateful to you for your part in ending the war, our requital only extends so far."

Political astuteness might not have been Aang's strongest skill but there were very clearly currents here he was in no position to navigate. "I am afraid I cannot account your meaning Lady Bei Fong." He said, careful and polite.

There was a truly staggering amount of venom in her eyes when she fixed her gaze on him. If a servant had not been in charge of the tea service, Aang would have suspected she was about to poison him. "There is always talk Avatar. No matter how carefully such indiscretions might be kept to your people's temples. Such things can do more damage than you might expect."

At least ten separate jokes about Toph and her own unique brand of discretion flashed across his mind, but Aang's increasing wariness of the conversation's subject made him snap. "What is it – exactly – you are trying to say?"

"Toph is a strong willed girl, and she has earned the right to make her own choices, but I will not have her whored out for you like a common slattern."

"Yangchen's Grace!" Aang stood up fast enough to knock his chair over. "What are you talking about?"

"The hospitality of your people is legendary Avatar," Poppy sneered, "the way your temple elders shared their women with one another and everyone who happened by; brokering relations and treaties with bedroom games."

"Because securing allies with forced and loveless marriages is so much less disgusting." He shot back without thinking, fury pumping in his blood. "My people did not - Where did you hear this nonsense?"

"The lascivious practices of the Air Nation are as well-known as the..." Poppy stopped short, slight surprise chasing its way across her features and suddenly Aang understood. All that hatred in a hundred years of war and ignorance tempered into casually accepted racism filled with rage and despair.

"...as the_ barbarism_ of the Water Tribes? The _hedonistic excesses_ of the Fire Nation court? Don't you ever _think_?" He looked down at her coldly, the part of him demanding balance and respect making his words drip scorn. She flinched at the level of his voice and Aang inwardly recoiled; the idea that he had made Toph's mother afraid of him blowing away his anger like falling leaves. "It's not true." Aang said, righting the chair he had upended and returning to sit beside her. "That's not – I would never."

"I see." There was a faint flush of colour in her cheeks that matched the mortification beginning to crawl its way up his spine, both of them shamed by their actions.

"It's true we don't get married," Aang offered after a moment, "but the nuns had their own elder council and Gyatso always said that they ran rings around the monks on their worst days. Any sharing of favours," he tried to ignore her hard look, "would have been consensual and born of affection. That's part of our laws."

Poppy took in a deep breath and managed to regain a touch of her impeccable hostess persona, though she did take an enormous unladylike bite out of one of the small iced cakes which had been left on the table. "Then your interest in Toph is platonic?"

"I'm in love with her." Aang said without hesitation, sure that it was true for all that he hadn't yet admitted it to anyone. Toph was going to kill him when she found out he'd told her mother first, but he wasn't willing to hide his feelings from anyone. Besides, she appreciated the head on approach.

"But you will not make her a respectable woman?"

"She doesn't need me for that." Poppy almost smiled at Aang's response. "I am all that is left of my people's customs and I will uphold their laws, insofar as I'm able, but Toph… she's the only thing I want. When bonds like that formed among the Nomads the couple would declare themselves to everyone and take formal leave of the temples. The actual wandering among the other nations wasn't as common when I was young," Tension had been high between the great powers of the world even then, though Aang hadn't known it at the time. "Bonded couples usually settled in the trading towns that had grown up near the temples so they could return for feast days or other special occasions."

Towns that had been utterly decimated in the first part of Sozin's purges, wiping out almost all of the airbenders not confined to the temples and providing a perfect staging ground for the sieges that followed. It was why Aang had, to this day, found no others of his kind. They were too detached, too predictable.

"They would simply leave everything behind?"

"Well, we are Nomads," He laughed. "A couple who walked the world were expected to be faithful to one another; it's a serious undertaking, treated with great respect."

"And you intend to ask Toph?"

Aang couldn't suppress his proud grin. "She's already accepted."

Poppy's mouth dropped open in shock and he realized that perhaps telling the woman who was, for all intents and purposes, to be your mother in law that you had already bonded yourself to her daughter not five minutes after she accused you of keeping her as a bedslave might not have been his wisest course of action.

"Nothing's come of it yet!" He assured her, and then realized how that sounded. "I mean I won't ask anything she's not willing to give. She could dissolve our bond and take a hundred lovers if she decided to, I wouldn't want to be with her any less." Aang clamped a hand over his own mouth in a vain attempt to avoid further embarrassing himself. His ears burned from how hard he was blushing.

"You wouldn't care?" Poppy's sceptical tone was tinged with amusement.

"Of course I would care, I'm just not supposed to," He muttered, voice turning from dark to despairing. "I'm a terrible monk."

He had been hoping to garner a laugh, but Lady Bei Fong simply sat back and focused her assessing look on him once more. "You need to have children." She said without preamble. "As many as possible in order to ensure that at least some will have the gift and the airbenders continue."

"The children of airbenders are always benders," Aang said with an assurance he no longer really felt. When he was a boy that had been true, the heights of spiritual purity to which the Nomads dedicated themselves had ensured every child was born with the air's gifts; but teasing aside he had not always followed the precepts of his people. He had taken lives in anger, both under the influence of the avatar state and with full knowledge of what he was doing. He had lied and stolen. He possessed more than was traditionally permitted. Technically the fact that the Southern Air Temple was seen to belong to him was an offence against the traditions he had been taught. Moreover he was the Avatar, things he had taken for granted might not apply to him. "In bonded couples and those who left the temple to live as other nations do, children were always taken back to the monks for training. If Toph did not want to be bonded, but was still willing to be with me, I would take responsibility for any airbending children she might have."

"And if she cannot bear you children?" Poppy stared, unseeing across the garden. "We did try, Lao and I, to have more children after Toph. To have a son who could carry on the family name, but we were never able to conceive again. The physicians said there was nothing wrong, but it simply never happened." She took a deep breath. "You must have children Avatar Aang. It is not a choice, it is a duty. Will you trap my daughter to you anyway? Make her a second string concubine because you love her?"

Poppy Bei Fong was not the first to say such things since he had returned six months ago to the world, a number of women had been offered or offered themselves for the 'glory of the avatar'. It made Aang massively uncomfortable and for the most part he had tried to avoid considering it seriously.

"No," He said, hating himself but knowing it was the right thing. "If we cannot – I won't keep her, I won't put her through that if I cannot commit to her alone. Toph deserves someone who can make her happy, even if it isn't me."

The smile that Poppy bestowed on him was almost too small to be seen, but it seemed more genuine than any expression that had crossed her face since he had regained his seat.

"Toph visited her old nursemaid while she was in town, the Lady Varrin. She attended brunch here at the estate the following morning and there were mentions of research."

The statement was bland and conversational but it was also a lead to where Toph might have gone, a peace offering and a probationary approval. Aang grinned all too widely in return.

"Sometimes, Lady Bei Fong, you are exactly like your daughter."

* * *

Mai had appeared at his side like a wraith the day after Katara had offered her a friendly shoulder if she needed it, using the pretext of defending the Fire Lord to hide, which Zuko couldn't help but find amusing.

She didn't want a friendly shoulder and neither did he. Katara cooled his rage by taking his emotions and feeding them back, anger for sadness, sadness for joy; caritas, catharsis. Mai just let him clamp it all down where he didn't have to feel it or deal with it.

Or be hurt by it.

He was aware that this was probably not healthy.

They paced the palace halls together without speaking; Mai knew his schedule well enough that she only turned towards the golden shield's training yards when his work for the day was finished or interrupted and Zuko had no reason not to follow her.

There were more delegates every day, people who fancied themselves privy in some way to the sordid goings on in the Fire Nation descending on the capital like a swarm of locusts. Katara was dedicating all her time to wrangling them back in line. Zuko wanted to assist, but his ministers kept pushing him to continue as normal, allow the people to see that there was nothing which could shake the foundations of their government. He had to maintain his mask of detached stoicism, no matter what meddling courtiers might say cattily over dinner.

And there was no one more stoic then Mai.

Zuko didn't ask her how she felt about the impending trial; he already knew. They had both betrayed Azula once.

* * *

It took Toph four days to reach the edge of the Foggy Swamp, just as the sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon, with her rough soles still burning from the scorching desert sand.

Her earth wave technique had allowed her to quarter the time it would normally have taken to reach the Si Wong from Gaoling, but once she had reached the barren expanse Toph was obligated to choose a more conventional method of travel; the shifting sands unable to support the form.

Truthfully, immutability wasn't the real reason she hadn't wanted to advertise her presence with something so obvious. Toph had spent years working on her sandbending; her form and control were next to flawless and she made a point of dedicating a few weeks to specific practice of it in the late fall when the heat was less unbearable. But she couldn't deny that her sight on such shifting matter was inaccurate and almost dangerously unreliable. In the middle of the desert, on her own – though she was loath to admit it - Toph would be vulnerable.

The mingled frustration and terror of the sandbender attack on her and Appa near the sunken library of Wang Shi Tong had stayed with her a long time.

Traversing the edges of the desert had also made it easier to lose the trackers her father had set on her trail.

Toph knew he meant well, but she couldn't help feeling insulted that he thought she still needed his protection or giggling madly when the trackers turned out to be such total buffoons. She had almost given the game away with her laughter when they walked straight past her hiding place and out into the Si Wong, following her incredibly sloppy false trail.

Sensibly, she had kept to the desert's edge, cutting just inside the line of dunes and scrubland that ringed the desert's wide, flat bowl. It had added an extra day to her journey but it was worth the effort for her own peace of mind and the chance to have a fire when the chill spring weather turned frigid at midnight.

Not that she had stopped much when the sun was down, it was far less strenuous to walk when the cool of darkness descended and bury herself in a dune to sleep away the worst heat of the day.

The transition between the packed grassland at the edge of the desert and the low drooping trees of the swamp was surprisingly sharp and she almost stumbled at the unexpectedly solid ground after so long on the roiling shifting sand.

The dry earth gave way to damper soil and the grassland turned quickly to bushes and tall reeds. There was so much earth and plant life in the water Toph was honestly surprised the first time she stepped accidently into a slow moving stream. Tapping her foot against soil so muddy and marshy it barely gave back a vibration, she picked out a meandering path into the trees as far as her sensitive toes could see, hefted her rucksack higher on her shoulders and set off into the Foggy Swamp.

* * *

Something is wrong with Suki and Sokka thinks the worst part about it is that she assumes he can't tell.

After nine years together he still doesn't understand her completely and he never will because girls are bewildering and unpredictable and a law unto themselves but he knows her, inside and out.

Suki gasped a sob of breath and her muscles locked, straining, trembling in the circle of his arms for a moment before she went boneless, pressing her face into the crook of his shoulder. Slowly they unpeeled and eased their way back slowly into the soft bed. Suki made some noise of protest at the heat, but Sokka would not let her pull away, refused to relinquish his hold on whatever part of her he could still touch.

He had tried to lure her back to him with contact. Hoped that the sweetness and pleasure they can find together and the brief oblivion it brings would allow her to open up, but instead they have ended up here, in bed together, coiled up and unmoving, touching everywhere but disconnected in a way they had not been in years.

Sokka could smell himself on her skin, underneath the sweat and sweet warmth of her; he could feel the way her body pressed closer with each breath, but she won't– even with the glow of passion still sparking in their veins, she is closed to him. She might as well be in another wing of the palace or back on Kyoshi for all that he could reach.

If she would only tell him she needs space, that things are troubling her he would accept it. Sokka is ready and waiting with time to think and solitude if only Suki would ask him for it. Acknowledge that she knows Sokka and he knows her in return.

"Do you trust me?" He shaped the question open-mouthed against her scarred and freckled shoulder.

"I – Yes, Sokka."

_But not enough._ He made no move to challenge her lie, simply pulled her infinitesimally closer and tried to sleep.

* * *

Toph tripped again and slid on something slimy and utterly disgusting under her feet, with an incredibly girly squeal she couldn't supress. Her legs shot forward on the slick patch, jerking out from under her and depositing Toph firmly on her backside in the marshy water.

This, she decided, was the worst place in the whole world.

Catching the solid vibration of a veritable island of firm ground amidst the deceptive marshland she hauled herself up and moved towards it. The soil was damp, but blessedly solid beneath her when she finally reached her goal, collapsing to the ground and trying to scrape some of the slick, soggy plant life from her calves.

She had entered the marshland with a clear goal and a fairly sure idea of which direction she had to continue in until she reached the ocean, expecting that it would appear in her seismic sight as a vast nothingness long before a guide would have been able to see it, but the path she had been forced to take from island to island through the swamp had turned her around on herself in a matter of hours. Much to her chagrin it was sometimes difficult to discern what was earth enough to support her weight and exactly how for the earth might have been under the water. It was far worse than the Si Wong. At least in the desert she hadn't been at risk of drowning.

_Can't you do something about this?_ She moaned. _You're Water Tribe_.

_But still incorporeal and stuck in your head._ Ummi reminded her irritably. Toph had discovered that Ummi was quite a bit like Zuko had been when they'd first met, all wounded ego and demands that they focus on the mission, but without any of the awkward self-deprecation that had made Sparky bearable.

Toph was having more fun than was probably healthy taunting her.

_You might have some water related advice to offer_.

_I can tell you if you go that way you're going to have to fight a very territorial Su Shaung._

Toph stopped immediately, spreading her senses out as though she could find the mythical creature like any other water fowl. _Really?_

_There are all kinds of things in this swamp. The whole place is dripping with spirit world energy._

_And you can see it?_

_Sort of._ Ummi said_. I mean, everything in the spirit world is connected and since I'm part of that world I can sort of sense it. _

_That….Is actually really handy._ Not that she wanted to admit it_. Could you do that for everyone you've been part of?_

Ummi sighed_. I've never been able to contact anyone but you. Usually my connection to this world is very faint._

_Could you show me how?_

_Would you prefer to die or have Koh take your face?_

Toph ruminated on the question for a moment just to annoy Ummi. _Death I think probably._

_Well that's a shame._ She said sharply. _Because I don't know how else you'd manage it. _

_Well you can see what I see - _

_And it's been amazingly helpful so far. _

Toph ignored her sneer. _So can't you just make it so I can see what you see?_ She waved her arms a little, to illustrate and one of her wrists tangled in a low hanging vine. Walking through a swamp with her senses focused mostly inward was clearly inadvisable.

_You would have to open your mind to me_. Ummi sounded breathless at the thought.

_You're already in my mind! _

But Ummi didn't reply with words; instead there was an unsettling cold feeling at the back of her mind, which pulsed and disappeared in a strange rhythm once and then repeated the pattern.

It took her a moment to realize that it was knocking.

Toph froze in paralyzing shock, which apparently allowed Ummi to do whatever it was she'd intended because suddenly the sketched out distortion in her perception of the world around her was painted in beads of sparkling light.

"Why is it always blue?" She gasped, sagging back against the marshy ground. Memories of the first and only time she had seen the colour when Aang pushed his way into her brain allowed her to identify what was tinting her seismic senses, but did not help with wraping her mind around something that was sight and emotion and sensation all at the same time.

_I think I might be sick._ She shoved violently at Ummi's presence in her thoughts and when no response or further disruption was forthcoming rubbed her hands over her face as if to scrub the blue light from her awareness, cursing her own curiosity.

It would have been so much easier to just fight the mythological water bird.

Her perception was so unsettled that she managed to somehow entangle her loose hair in the twining foliage nearby. Toph sat up, yanking her hair free and wincing at the sharp pain as more than a few strands separated from her head.

She was craving that machete Snoozles had carried for so long as new vines seemed to wrap themselves around her wrists out of nowhere.

Batting the clinging tendrils away she readjusted the straps of her pack and moved to free her legs properly when she felt the vines – without intercession or assistance – shift forward and wrap tightly around her ankles.

She yanked away violently, ripping herself free and scrambling to her feet. Vibrations drew her attention as more vines slid from the water or dropped from the trees and landed on her clear patch of ground. One caught her arm, another wrapping her waist like an encircling arm and Toph panicked, tearing a protective dome out of the earth with a violent cry.

Gasping and swearing she dropped to her knees as the makeshift shelter closed over her head and pulled the vine remnants off her skin with a violence usually reserved for creatures with too many legs, rubbing her skin as she shivered with revulsion.

There was a dull thud from outside her tiny shelter, and a trickle of dirt fell from the celling onto her upturned face, followed by another and another. Toph cursed her stupidity for coming here alone and desperately wracked her brain for a way to escape before she was buried under a cocoon of living vines.

* * *

_ A/N: I owe my beta incredible thanks for this chapter, so much appreciation to Newtype Zeta!_


	12. Past Imperfect

**XII. Past Imperfect**

* * *

It hadn't escaped Aang's notice that he occasionally did stupid things.

Not telling Katara and Sokka about their father's letter because he was being selfish; running off injured and weak to challenge the Fire Lord a few weeks after he had almost died and perhaps his best example was running off with a giant sealion turtle; but never had he done something so monumentally ridiculous as running off into a swamp after one of the most ancient and cruellest of spirits.

It hadn't taken long for Aang to find the small schoolhouse near the center of the city, the door had been locked but he'd knocked incessantly until a tall woman with silvered temples and a formidably disapproving raised eyebrow opened it for him. She opened her mouth to no doubt tell him off for arriving in such an uproar but he cut across her with, what he hoped was a disarming smile.

"Hello. I'm Aang, are you the Lady Varrin?"

Aang had gotten a lot of wildly varied reactions to his appearance over the years; confusion, fear, and snotty remarks about his ears being some of the most common. Wild, creative cursing though was new. "Ah, were you expecting me?"

The archly disapproving schoolmistress expression dropped away into familial concern. "Tell me you're here to track her down Avatar."

"You know who I am?"

Varrin crossed her arms with an expression which said she thought him mentally afflicted. "There aren't that many people running around with tattoos like those, young man. Besides my idiot former ward mentioned you. Are you the reason she wanted the burial place of the Face Stealer?"

A vigilante wearing his mask in the Fire Nation, the spirit world reaching out for him and that deep pervading insistence that he track Toph down. There was no chance that this was all coincidence. The avatar state pulled at him again, insistent enough that he was almost overwhelmed by it, panic and anger just barely managing to leash him to the waking world. "Where is she?"

Varrin's face grew tight with anxiety. "She disappeared from breakfast, left her family's house in the middle of a meal. The seneschal told us it was a summons from the Fire Lord." It was patently obvious that she hadn't believed the story for a moment. "Please Avatar I don't know what she's gotten herself into but there aren't many reasons Toph would hide something from everyone and all of them are bad."

"Where did you send her? Where was his mortal form buried?"

"No one knows for certain, I mean these are legends referencing legends, it's too far back for any proper analysis even if it could somehow be determined that there was a literal transference from mortal to spirit. The soul or face stealer as an archetype is involved in so many myths about the forming of the world-" Aang wasn't sure exactly what he looked like but it was panicked or fierce enough to stop the intimidating scholarly woman midstream. "I sent her to the proto-tribal ruins in the Foggy Swamp."

"The what in the Swamps?"

"The original waterbenders came from that part of the world; their old city was built on a place of ancient spiritual power. Where the spirits left this plane and life began." She gave him a speculative once over that made Aang feel like a specimen pinned to a card. "Some stories claim the first Avatar was created there."

"No," Aang said grimly, supressing his forced memories of that terrible rising. "It didn't happen there."

He held up a hand to forestall Varrin's questions, seeing the light of academic curiosity come over her face. "Do you know which way she went?"

"The remains of the city are close to the north western edge of the swamp, right where it meets the ocean, but I can't imagine Toph would want to trek right through."

"Along the edge of the desert then?"

"If you hurry you might catch her before she gets across the Si Wong."

"Thank you for your help." Aang dipped a bow, but Varrin simply spun him around and shoved him back out the door.

"Go!"

Aang had swung himself onto Appa's back without a second thought to provisions or planning, dread forming a hard ball in the pit of his stomach.

He had never told his friends about the malicious, arthropod face stealer. After their encounter during the Siege of the North, there had been no chance to explain what had happened to Katara or Sokka - all three of them were too caught up in mourning and the shaky relief of unexpected victory – and afterwards he found himself reluctant to speak of it. That deep rasping voice promising they would meet again had haunted his nightmares ever since.

He supposed it was too much to hope that Koh had referred only to the Avatar spirit.

What he couldn't fathom was why. Toph had given Varrin no reason and nothing to her knowledge had been able to explain where Toph had even heard the name, or why representations of the spirit would be appearing in the fire nation capital when she was there. The whole thing was like a malevolent reflection of Katara's attempts to impersonate the Painted Lady.

The thought brought him up so short he almost yanked Appa to a halt in midair, causing his friend to bellow in irritation. What if it was exactly like that? Katara claimed her deeds had brought the painted lady out. Aang replayed the woman he'd apprehended in his mind, remembering how small she had been, that her long dark hair had certainly been real and not a wig. Things that hadn't seemed important after making sure she wasn't any more than a flesh and blood person in a disguise, but there was no question that it could have been Toph. She hadn't used earthbending, but Toph wouldn't have been obvious enough to bend in front of him since he would have easily figured out who she was; Aang flushed hotly at the sharp recollection of the woman beneath him pliant and welcoming and gritted his teeth. It had been her, she'd been laughing at him.

Resolutely brushing away the shame he'd tried to focus on the sweeping expanse of golden sand stretched out below him, but his thoughts were a whirlwind. Koh was a spirit of vengeance, that much Aang knew. By wearing his face as a vigilante, it was theoretically possible that Toph had attracted his attention, but the question 'why' still remained. Koh couldn't outright lie but spirits were skilled and devious manipulators. It was possible that she'd struck a bargain with him, but Koh wanted only one thing and he wouldn't need to send Toph to the Foggy Swamp to get it.

Varrin had been right when she said the fens were a mystical place, Aang had scrupulously avoided returning there after the first somewhat disastrous encounter. In the Swamp, the old wise man Huu had told him, _"We see visions of people we've loved, people we've lost."_ Katara had seen her mother, Sokka had spoken to Yue and he had chased… _Toph_.

The thought of losing her sent a wash of icy dread down his spine. Huu's premonition had always seemed more for effect than actual truth but the possibility that Toph might already be beyond his reach was almost paralyzing.

The image of her face transposed onto Koh's hideous segmented form made Aang lean close to Appa's ear, urging the bison on faster.

* * *

Toph ran her tongue over dry parched lips for the third time in as many seconds, longingly conscious of the waterskin against her knee and tried once more to distract herself by fruitless attempts to shift into a less agonizing position.

She wasn't sure exactly how long she had crouched here in the dark. Long enough to sleep and wake and sleep again, long enough that her stomach ached and screamed for the food that had been in her pack, barely inches from the rock dome she had created tight around her body.

It might as well have been a hundred miles.

She could very well have been leagues from where she'd first been trapped. With her tiny haven wrapped in thick foliage Toph found herself trapped in true sensory deprivation. No vibrations passed through the vines and though she had tried, her thin crust of rock could not break the layers; she'd avoided strangulation only to imprison herself.

The space was too close to move more than a little in any direction and her joints ached with the strain of remaining bent in one shape for too long. It was only luck that allowed enough air in through the fissures and fractures caused by the pressure of the vines' grip had split in the stone crust; she could breathe but the space was stifling, hot with her own gasping and suppressed panic.

Toph would have made a poor earthbender if she had been afraid of enclosed spaces, close walls of earth had always been more of a comfort then a threat, but there was a wide margin between tight and trapped and the knowledge that she could not free herself was like a splinter in her mind, making it harder and harder to stay calm.

The furious tension radiating through her from where Ummi paced the corridors of her thoughts was not helping.

_I think__... maybe,_ Even her inner voice rasped with the desire to guzzle down the last of her carefully rationed water, ...y_ou might have to try again on the next person Twinkletoes dates. _

_Not a__ chance. I've just barely gotten to tolerate you. _

Toph traced the designs she'd etched into deep grooves on the wall of her small cell with the tips of her fingers. She and Ummi had moved, eventually, past panic and screaming arguments and intense crippling crying claustrophobia, into that strange fatalistic camaraderie that Toph remembered from the last days of the war. Ummi had spoken to Toph the way she had apparently not spoken to anyone in centuries. About her family, her brothers, the way they had chased elkstag across the tundra; about the way the world had been when things were free from the specter of war. Toph couldn't share Ummi's memories, the water tribe woman's mind was closed, but she had a gift for description and the ephemeral thoughts of ice and coldness so sharp that it numbed, helped to chase away the madness that the heat engendered.

_Katara said the plants attacked to stop Snoozles from damaging the swamp._ Toph curled her limbs tight enough to hear the joints pop, tasting dirt as she scraped herself against the walls to shift her knees out from beneath her. _The vines could crush us, there's not enough rock here for me to hold them back_. Why couldn't they just kill her and be done with it?

_I don't know what they're holding us for either._ Ummi's voice was almost motherly, full of reassurances she did not even try to pass off as truth.

_Go away for a little while,_ She pushed at Ummi's presence. _At least one of us should. _

_I can stay. You don't need to be alone._

_A lady needs her space. _

_I don't see any ladies here. _

She laughed weakly, the sound falling dead in the tiny echoless space. _I really wanted to help you Ummi. _

There was no reply. Toph tucked her head against one curved dirt wall and squeezed her useless eyes shut to stop tears from dehydrating her further.

* * *

No mysterious tornado rose out of the marshland to drag Appa down this time, but Aang had a true Avatar's awareness now, and he knew that despite Sokka's scepticism there were great and ancient powers hiding underneath those spreading treetops. He could almost feel the shifting unnatural powers welling up to greet him, cautious but complacent in their small territories.

The rise of the great banyan at the center of the swamp never failed to take Aang's breath away, it's heavy branches like the pillars of an ancient temple, the trunk broad and tall enough to make him feel not just small but insignificant. As though he were standing next to time itself, embodied.

Diving, he guided Appa below the treeline into the shadowed twilight of the swamp to land them on one great spreading root, as wide as a roadway. "Huu!" He called, sliding free of the bison's back. "Huu, are you here?"

Aang kicked off the root, leaping from knot to knot on the gnarled bark of the banyan tree until he reached the lowest of the branches, calling out for the old hermit.

The banyan's power resonated against his own hard enough that he could feel it in his teeth, buzzing along his bones. The Foggy Swamp was an unsettling place, full of things he didn't really understand but the life energy inherent in the tree was sympathetic, a bridge between all living things here the way the Avatar joined the spirit world and this one. He crossed his legs, sitting neatly in lotus and reaching out to spread his awareness along the ley lines of the tree.

_Aang!_

Roku's presence hit him like a runaway train. _Speak to me you foolish boy_.

He threw himself out of the Avatar state so violently that his head cracked against the trunk behind him. Aang cried out in pain, shaking the stars from his eyes as he realized someone was laughing at him.

Huu crouched in front of him, looking older but no less ridiculous with his strange haircut and cringe inducing loincloth. Though he was chuckling at Aang's clumsiness he seemed troubled, and his face softened into deep frown lines when his smile faded.

"Avatar,"

"Hello Huu." Aang reached out to offer the man his hand, but Huu just studied his face with a calculating expression.

"It does no good to avoid your responsibilities Avatar."

"I'm not avoiding," Aang protested. "I just need to find Toph first."

"There is unrest in this world, trouble that comes from the spirit realm. You should bend your head to the source of the problem."

"I will, after I make sure she's safe."

"Then your purposes are one."

"What?"

"Everything is connected Avatar, I told you that long ago."

There was something in the older man's expression that stopped him from dismissing the platitude. "What do you know Huu?"

"Only that the earthbender is being held by the swamp for a reason."

"Held? Like the swamp tried to hold us the first time we were here?" Aang was moving before he had half a chance to remember that Toph might be anywhere under the dark trees. Visibly deflating, he folded the glider wings back into his staff and crouched against the knotted limb, considering the whorls of wood - caught between the urgent desire to find her and the knowledge that Roku and the others were circling, waiting for him to access the Avatar State. To search the swamp would take weeks, there was no other way for Aang to reach Toph fast enough. Tentatively he reached out, pressing his hand against the bark and casting his mind through the labyrinthine twists of the banyan's roots.

A feeling like a dragging hand seized him sharply and yanked him to where he could feel Toph's earthbending strike the soil and the tug of vines as someone moved to fight her off. _Stop her_. A thousand angry ancient voices said at once.

Aang's eyes snapped open and he launched his glider out into the air.

* * *

It was not any particular noise that jolted Toph from her delirious half daze, but the bewildering awareness of there being noise at all beyond her own harsh breathing. Scrabbling for purchase she pressed her palms to the curved walls of her prison and felt blessed earth appear beneath her, awareness washing over her like cool rain as the vines that had wrapped a stranglehold around her shifted away.

There were people approaching.

Four of them from one direction and two coming in around the opposite sides, stepping tentatively nearer; it took her an absurdly long moment to realize they were confused by her haphazard, much abused shelter cum trap. Toph took a deep slow breath in, trying to reorder her thoughts and reconcile despairing haze she'd fallen into with the pump of adrenalin that had fired through her veins at the awareness of freedom.

The space is too small for a proper gesture, but Toph roars and the earth roars with her, surging as she slams out with every ounce of power she could bring to bear.

The dome around her burst apart with explosive force.

Toph tried to rise and her legs seized; muscles spasming in protest and agony. Two of the six had been knocked senseless by her first attack but there were four more to be dealt with and even as she listened for their movements one stepped back into the fetid nothingness of the swamp and the rush of shifting liquid told Toph 'waterbender'.

Spreading her palms against the marshy earth she twisted, encasing her own legs to mid thigh in earth and using her control over her element to yank herself into a standing position. She raised her hands in mantis stance and shouted.

"Back off!"

The words came out as a depressing raspy whisper.

The Swampbenders were a lot like the waterbending equivalent of the Sun Warriors Zuko and Aang had found on their quest to get Sparky's firebending groove back. They were both the oldest known practitioners of their discipline; they both guarded their secrets fiercely. But where the Sun Warriors defended their traditions by convincing the outside world they no longer existed – rebuffing every one of Zuko's attempts to bring them back to the imperial Fire Nation – the Swampbenders did it by convincing everyone that they were foolish, backward hicks.

They were in some ways very backwards and uneducated even by the most lax of standards, but their bending techniques were completely unparalleled in the wider world; they eschewed the fluid, formalized styles of the North, or Katara's techniques which were becoming known as South Pole waterbending in favour of economy of motion, more instinctive, like a child's untutored attempts honed to unexpected power.

The plantbending alone made them a force to be reckoned with, and it was an advantage that they exploited ruthlessly against enemies in their territory. It also put them at an extreme disadvantage against Toph.

Water returned no vibrations at all in her seismic sense; she was forced to rely on her keen ears and the patterns of her opponent's movements but wood and flora, those she could see.

She cast up a wall between herself and the waterbender, nearly groaning in frustration when it started to crumble under the onslaught of the torrent he blasted towards her. These benders were stronger than she expected and fresh where she was weak and exhausted. Panting, she managed to blast a slender pillar of rock at the plantbender calling up tendrils on her right, hard enough to slam him back against a tree.

The marshy ground obeyed her sluggishly and Toph realized she was expending too much effort to pull it free of the ground's water enough to make it an effective weapon. Instead she loosened the bracing restraints on her legs long enough to bend a large bladed guan dao, swinging it in a wide arc and hearing the edge whistle as it sliced through oncoming vines.

"Leave me alone!"

She reached out to pull the muddy earth beneath the waterbender's feet, encasing him in mud as he fell and bringing the stone shaft of her weapon up just in time to block the arcing blow of the fourth attacker, who wasn't bending plants or water, but wielding a wicked sounding bladed weapon. The force of the blow nearly cracked her halberd in half. Wrenching and twisting the weapon sharply down, Toph managed to redirect the strike; changing the direction of her movement, she pivoted at the waist to crack the blunt base of her guan dao across his jaw.

Her last opponent was shifting out of her awareness, cocooning himself in vines that deadened her ability to see his movements. Toph readjusted her stance, shifting the muddy earth with her, determined not to be pushed back to the defensive, when a streak of that sparking blue crossed her senses and landed before her with a rumble that shook the earth.

"Toph!"

* * *

She looked like death warmed over, her whole body trembling despite the death grip she had on her rough stone weapon, her hair matted against skin streaked with dirt and sweat.

"Aang?" Her voice was hoarse and dry.

He stepped carefully closer, keeping his feet firmly on the ground as he reached out to fold his hands over hers along the haft of the weapon. "Hey Sifu, you really did a number on these guys."

Toph sagged with relief. "They shouldn't have messed with me."

He watched the remaining tribesman warily, but he seemed to have uncoiled from his fighting stance, letting the foliage slough away. "Elders said danger," The man shrugged, moving to assist his beaten comrades. "We just came t'see what got the swamp riled."

Aang looked from him to the battered Toph. "I may not have been aware talking was an option." She shrugged.

* * *

The foggy swamp tribe made their home much deeper into the twisted marshes than outsiders usually dared venture. Since the end of the war, a trading village had been established on the fringes of the swamp as their official settlement, where letters could be delivered and contact with the world outside the dense trees could take place, but the swampbenders hadn't given up their traditional home, at the edges of the ruins which backed onto the sea.

Not that they were close to the sea yet, the forest around them was still impenetrable and dark, but Toph had stumbled at least six times in the last twenty paces and when they had stumbled on the crumbling stone shell of some ancient building she'd sat down hard on the floor and refused to get up. The waterbenders had disappeared into the swamp like mist, claiming they would report back to the village, leaving Aang to wrap one arm around a protesting, shaking Toph and bring them this far together.

"Can we rest here?" Toph didn't raise her head to pose the question. Aang had bent dirt and bracken from enough water to fill the skin she carried several times over on their journey, but she still seemed to be suffering the effects of mild dehydration and fighting the urge to collapse.

Aang dropped her pack from his shoulder and moved to examine their temporary refuge. "Of course." The crumbling structure's floor was angled where its foundation had begun to slip from solid ground into the water. Only the main room had survived the ravages of time, but there were half destroyed walls that mapped out where other chambers would have branched off. The architecture he could see reminded Aang strangely of buildings in the northern water tribe. At the center of the room there was a slightly raised fire pit, which had filled with rain to the point where it more closely resembled a fountain. Bending some into his cupped hands to take a sip, he then made a face at the taste and spat it back out across the stones.

"Full of bugs?" Toph's voice was weary but laughing as she peeled off the dirt encrusted layers of her clothing until she stood in just her breast wrappings and loose trousers, dropping her armbands and a strange sparkling coil of chain in a careless heap next to her pack.

Aang shrugged, "Just stale."

She moved shakily to rinse the worst of the grime from her tunic and shirt and Aang piled up the dead foliage that had collected in the corners of the ramshackle house to build a fire so she could spread the pale green fabric out to dry. "That won't do much good if you're still covered in dirt, you know."

"Thanks Sugar Queen," Toph rolled her sightless eyes at him. "A healthy coating of earth never hurt me before."

"And the sticks in your hair?" Aang teased, reaching out tentatively to run his fingers across the back of Toph's hand and down to tangle them with her own. "How do they help your bending prowess?"

She twined their fingers together just long enough to give an affectionate squeeze and pull him off balance before letting go to pick twigs out of the hopeless tangles.

"Want a hand?" He offered, but she waved him off.

"I'd rather have something to eat." He could feel her calculating scrutiny and knew that she really wanted the same answers he was ready to demand from her, but they were both unwilling, for the moment, to break their strangely comfortable peace.

Aang couldn't help making a face at the dried meat he found, but beneath that there was travel bread and a round of soft white cheese wrapped in cloth. There was no pot to heat water in but Aang held a ball of water suspended with one hand and called up a tongue of flame in his opposite palm to heat it until it could be poured over Toph's meagre supply of tea leaves; the look of gratitude and naked greed on her face when she smelled the brew was halfway between adorable and unsettling.

Toph reached for the offered cup only to find she was still caught in the rat-viper's nest of her own hair, she cursed vehemently, tears springing up in her eyes from the sharp pain. "You need to wash it out," Aang said mildly.

"It's fine," She groped through the pack for a ribbon, before he tugged the bag away. "I'll just put it up the way I used to."

"That's just going to make it worse."

"When did you become such an expert on long hair baldie?"

Aang snorted; they had all been lectured by Katara at one point or another on proper hair maintenance, despite the fact that he had barely enough hair to get a brush through. "Come on, I'll help."

"I don't need help."

"Look, whoever packed this left soap in the bottom. You'll feel better once you're clean," He wheedled. "I'll heat up the water and everything."

"You're such a girl Twinkletoes." Toph's said petulantly, but she let him prod her over to the basin and lay her head down as he used a flick of firebending to warm the water. She tensed as he dragged his hands up her neck to gather her knotted locks and he couldn't help smiling at her reticence.

"Relax," He insisted, dragging his fingernails lightly against her scalp. "I don't mind."

The soft soap smelled sharply of spice and lemongrass and something sweet he couldn't name, the scent rising into the air as it lathered easily and began to ease the snarls and dirt away. The mindlessness of the task was soothing and the assurance that Toph was safe and whole under his hands unpicked the tension that had plagued him for days. She looked almost drugged from sensation when he finally combed the last knot free, humming inaudibly in pleasure at the feeling and Aang couldn't resist brushing a wet hand across her face just to see her nose scrunch as her face twisted in disapproval.

"This was the first place I met you."

"Pretty sure it was Gaoling actually," one eyebrow quirked at the statement, her expression speculative even though her eyes were closed.

Aang shook his head emphatically. "No it was here, I had a vision of you before we'd even met. A pretty girl in a white dress with a flying boar. You were laughing at me."

"Nothing's changed there then." She teased.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting my hair washed Twinkles, aren't I the blind one?"

"Toph," He said warningly, but she just flashed him an unrepentant cheeky grin.

"So you run away from Zuko's palace in the middle of the night, you head to your parents house of all places and then you come out to the middle of the Foggy Swamp."

"I had to get away."

"I talked to Varrin. Why are you searching for Koh?" He barely let her stutter out an attempt at an answer before he seized her shoulders. "He is dangerous Toph; you can't imagine what Koh could do to you."

Her eyes remained closed but she levered herself up and away from him, twisting the water free of her hair until it ran in rivulets across the stones. "Actually, I think maybe I can."

"Whatever he promised you isn't worth it!"

"Promised me? Twinkletoes, I've never spoken to Koh. I only know who he is because of _your_ memories."

"Then what are you doing out here?"

"I'm helping someone."

"Who? How? Toph just tell me."

"Ummi." She said reluctantly, as though the name itself might summon its owner. It sounded familiar, but Aang couldn't place where he had heard it before.

"Who's Ummi?"

Something hopeful he hadn't noticed in Toph's expression seemed to shatter at the question. "She's kind of like a past life. She used to be alive, then she was part of other people and now she's a sort of passenger ….in my head."

"Toph," Aang kept his voice carefully measured and gentle, scrutinizing her head for any signs of unexpected trauma. If she was hearing voices, what could that mean? "People can't be contacted by their past lives like that. Are you sure-"

Her right cross caught him in the sternum, hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs. "I'm not crazy!" Toph shouted. "I can feel her in there the same way you were in my head. I can see things now. Spirit things." Her eyes narrowed. "Frankly it's awful; I don't know how you do it. But I am _not_ crazy."

"When did you start hearing… her?"

"The equinox."

"The night you left."

Toph nodded. "She said before that she'd tried to contact me, but I couldn't hear her."

Which made a strange sort of sense if… "I think," he started hesitantly, wary of another punch. "That I might have done this to you," Her glare was enough to keep him talking. "When I entered your mind to give you firebending, you had to open up and let me in. It makes sense that you would be more open to spiritual influences now. What doesn't make sense is why Ummi would be able to contact you."

"You can talk to spirit people."

"Because they were Avatars. The Avatar Spirit keeps part of them waiting for me," He explained. "If you are her, reincarnated, there shouldn't be anything left of Ummi in the spirit world."

"I'm not her reincarnation, we're just connected. That's why she needs me," Toph said emphatically. "Part of her is imprisoned and I'm going to break her out."

"What could be keeping her stuck there?"

"She's one of Koh's faces."

Aang was rather proud of himself for his restraint in not picking Toph up and shaking her like a ragdoll. "No," He said, all too aware of how Toph would take such a command, but physically incapable of suppressing his own vehement denial.

"Ah, yes she is Twin-"

He didn't even let her finish the epithet. "No, you are not challenging Koh, or risking his wrath or even his notice. This stops right now."

"Is that the command of the Avatar?" He voice rose sharp and mocking.

"This isn't some Earth Rumble thug!" Aang yelled, his voice shocking in the quite gloom. "He's not a mercenary lord you can threaten, he's not even human."

"Don't shout at me like I'm being a reckless idiot!"

"You are the _personification _of 'reckless idiot' for even thinking of coming here alone. Toph you almost died today!"

"And that had absolutely nothing to do with face stealing spirits!" Her voice calmed but she began to twist at her hair in agitation. "I didn't expect the earth cursed sentient swamp to try and eat me, but I had a plan."

"You running headlong into danger is a plan now?"

"Why can't you just trust me?"

"I do trust you Toph, Yangchen help me I do, but this is madness. You can't bend in the spirit world. You wouldn't even be able to see! How could you hope to fight something even_ I_ can't kill?"

"Zhao," She choked on the name, swallowed and repeated herself. "Zhao killed the moon spirit by destroying its mortal form and Koh was mortal once so I'm going to find his remains."

Aang studied her for a long moment.

"Just his remains?"

"Yes."

"You're not planning to loose a powerful demon on the mortal world?"

Toph sputtered indignantly. "Not that I'm aware of!"

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Then we'll think of something else."

He sighed deeply, impossibly relieved that she'd been planning on telling him at least before she did anything monumentally foolish. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I'll help you."

"Twinkletoes I don't need your help –"

"I said I was helping. I'll follow you there if I have to."

She swatted at him, a smile dancing at the corner of her lips. "You are really bossy when you're being the Avatar."

"You're bossy all the time." Aang reminded her.

"That's because I am the best Twinkles, keep up."

Her hands, which had been methodically twisting her hair into a long wet rope, relaxed and she reached instead for the now cold cup of tea, holding it out for him to heat.

"Was that you?" He blurted the question awkwardly. "In the mask that first night I arrived in the Fire Nation?"

Toph's expression changed from confused to wicked in the blink of an eye and she nodded. "Sorry about that."

"No you're not."

She grinned. "Not even a little."

Despite the lingering tension, Aang couldn't resist the urge to tug Toph close and kiss her deeply. Her mouth was far too tempting when she smiled and the past four days since he held her seemed like an age. Toph seemed frozen for half an instant, until he tried to pull away and her hand came up to clutch the back of his neck. The kiss stayed chaste and sweet and Aang reveled in the softness of her lips, the light catch of her fingers against the stubble on his jaw; then Toph's tongue, shocking and wet traced the seam of his mouth and Aang followed blindly, pulling a small noise from her throat.

He couldn't help groaning in response, angling to press closer and chase that moan again, licking at the inside of her lush lower lip and drinking in the sounds she made.

Toph seized the front of his tunic and dragged them together, tumbling forward into his lap and breaking contact to laugh for half an instant before Aang's palms slid up her legs to clutch her waist and Toph hissed, pressing her whole body close against him.

One of her hands slid up beneath his tunic to trace the tensed muscles of Aang's lower back, his hips stuttered forward instinctively and he pressed their mouths together, just breathing the mingled scent of them in. He kissed her again, wet and sucking tastes of Toph's neck, the ridge of her cheekbone, the hollow behind her ear that made her moan sweetly. Aang held the skin between his teeth, increasing the pressure, but pulling back before he left a mark, too desperate for the taste of her lips again.

Her fingers slipped inside his collar, raking up the back of his neck, just as she pulled delicately at his lower lip with her teeth and sucked hard. Aang wrenched back with a sound that was embarrassingly reminiscent of a wounded animal, head spinning as he tried desperately to get his rebellious body back under control, not at all helped by the feeling of Toph gasping against his throat.

"Sorry," She sounded wrecked and Aang squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop himself from throwing her to the ground beneath him.

"What?"

Toph pulled herself away from his neck, but didn't look at him properly, one hand coming up to trace the lines of his face. "Aang I don't want to – I know you haven't done this before. I want you to be ready. If you need … I'll wait."

She'll wait? Aang had been waiting, desperate and wanting, because he didn't need to ask Sokka or Zuko to know that it was up to the lady, no matter how good it felt to have Toph in his lap, pressing against him everywhere, no matter how hard it was to keep his head around her drugging kisses.

"I thought…You're Toph!" He laughed helplessly, pressing his mouth to her temple. "I was waiting for your cue so I wouldn't get brained with anything!"

She pulled him down further, enough that their foreheads knocked together. "Twinkletoes you idiot."

"No fair," Aang protested. "This is at least half your fault."

"Can we now safely say this is mutual?"

"Oh dear spirits yes."

"Then argue about whose fault it is later." She tipped her head up to meet his gaze and Aang inhaled sharply. Toph's blank eyes were dark; her misted pupils blown wide, dilated with passion. The thought that she wanted him so much it marked her where not even light could touch, had Aang literally shaking with desire.

He buried one hand in her damp hair and wrapped his other arm firmly around her waist, lifting them both to stumble gracelessly over where he could lay Toph out on her mostly dry tunic, closer to the fire's warmth. Her legs wrapped tight around his waist as she scrabbled to peel away his tunic and Aang realized with a flare of impossible heat just how much she had wanted this too.

Pulling away he tugged the offending garment off, and found himself transfixed at the sight of her.

She wasn't flawless, his Toph. Her skin was a constellation of scrapes and scratches, tiny scars that were white even against her pale skin and wider ones that formed ropes of poorly mended tissue. He wanted to put his lips on every single one.

Toph rocked up against him, her mouth bruised red and wet from his kisses, trying to communicate with just her hands and her hips and Aang completely lost his head

"Mine," He growled into her neck with an almost violent surge of possessiveness. And because Toph was so contrary and it wasn't really in his nature to be so greedy and because he wanted her enough that he was going out of his mind he couldn't stop himself following it with "please_,_ spirits Toph, _please_ be mine."

"Yes," Toph gasped desperately and her head tipped back, her words one long exhalation. "Oh, Kuruk!"

* * *

.


	13. Stumbling Towards

**XIII. Stumbling Towards**

* * *

She knew the instant it all went horribly wrong. Her desire to answer pressed against Ummi's control of her tongue and then Aang was jerking back from her as though he had been burned and she realized what her passenger had said.

Toph lifted her sensitive feet from the ground, curling herself to one side and rolling up onto her knees so that she was facing away from Aang. She yanked her tunic off the stone floor and jerked it over her arms, unable to stop the protective hunch of her shoulders, the instinctive urge to make herself smaller and somehow diminish the humiliation of what had just happened. "Oh Oma." Her fingers shook too badly to fasten the frog clasps of her robe and Toph buried her face in her hands helplessly, as her stomach twisted itself in knots.

"So," Aang's voice was carefully measured to be emotionless, inadvertently giving away just how much she had hurt him. "Your last lover was Water Tribe? I mean Kuruk is a northern name." The unspoken accusation dripped oleaginous down her spine, leaving a grimy film on her skin.

The laugh that tore out of her sounded more like a sob in the still air. "Yes actually, he was… but, no - Ummi," She forced out. "That was Ummi's voice. Kuruk was Ummi's lover, Ummi's husband."

"Kuruk and Ummi," Aang said softly, as though something was falling into place. "Wait, _Avatar_ Kuruk? The person in your head is that Ummi? _His_ lost love?" Despite her attempts of block him out, the vibrations of Aang settling back to put his feet out and rest his arms against raised knees were clear through the rock beneath them. "He told me she was taken by Koh. I had forgotten."

"He's still looking for her then?"

"I don't think he ever stopped."

"Well," Toph pushed the faint sense of joy bubbling up from her passenger further away, clamping down on the place where she could feel Ummi's pleasure and trying to lock it further down as though she could keep that presence imprisoned within the depths of her own mind.

_It was an accident._

Ummi slipped smoothly through her mental grip with a whisper of apology that made Toph want to crack her own head against the stone in a fruitless attempt at retribution.

_I don't care. _

"At least one of us is happy." She said aloud, feeling as though she'd been wrung out and hung up to dry, empty.

"Wait," Toph heard Aang shift, turning back towards her. "I don't understand."

"That makes two of us."

"How can you be making light of this?

"What else am I supposed to do, huh Twinkletoes?" Toph's laughter was a bark, without humour. "What, exactly are the rules for this?"

"You don't keep it from me!" He said. "If there was one person in the world you don't keep this kind of thing from, Toph, it's me."

"Because you seem to be dealing with it so well."

"What did you expect Toph?"

"Nothing," She spat. "I expected nothing from you Aang." Anger overwhelming her humiliation, she rose and crossed their makeshift campsite to her pack, buckling her belt over her still unbuttoned robe and ignoring him decisively.

"Are you going to explain?"

"I've told you what's happening," Toph coiled the long strand of diamond chain she'd been working on around her waist where it could rest comfortably above her belt and began to throw everything else on the stone floor haphazardly back into her bag. "You know what my plan is. I'm going to fix this and you can decide what you want to do after."

"The hell I will!" Aang's voice was harsh over the clatter of hard leather on stone as he yanked on his boots. "She's not just in your head Toph, Ummi is _possessing_ you."

"I am _not_ possessed."

"Do you think it's normal she can take control of your body?"

"She used my voice twice, and both times I was distracted; besides it happens to you all the time."

"This is not the _Avatar State_ Toph!" He roared. "And you know, you _know_ what that cost me!"

Guilt brought her up short for a moment. Aang had come into his power young enough for the Avatar State to be just as much a trap as it was a defense, and then he had spent years lost in the spirit world under the cruel tutelage of his own past lives.

_It's just too small in here for both of us_, Ummi's voice was faint where Toph had tried to shove her away. _Once you free me-_

Toph shook her head as if to clear it, growing in frustration. "But that's what it all comes back to isn't it. Earth cursed spirits and the Avatar and I'm just along for the ride. We want each other because of her."

"I didn't even know she existed until five minutes ago."

"But it's _destiny_," She said the word in a mocking breathy tone. "You're Kuruk and I'm her and no matter how honest you sound it might all just be for Ummi." It was more than just the uncertainty of the situation that plagued her. They had come to this despite first loves and bad loves, fought separate struggles and personal demons. Toph railed against the way destiny diminished them both.

"Oh," Aang breathed as though the answer had hit him like a ton of bricks. "That's why you didn't tell me."

"Yeah Twinkletoes, that's it."

She could feel his heart beating like the rush of a landslide. "You're in lov-"

"Don't say it." A hand gesture clamped a rock cuff over his mouth for half an instant before Aang banished it with barely a flicker of movement.

"But it's true?"

"Well," She fixed her blind stare on him over one shoulder. "That is the question isn't it?"

"_Oh."_ The word sounded a lot more disheartened now.

"Yeah, oh."

"I don't think we're predestined." He offered. "I don't think we've been chasing one another through the ages, I don't think it's some cosmic alignment that we're together. I had a vision of the perfect teacher for earthbending, everything else is just…lucky"

"Lucky." She said speculatively, rolling the word around on her tongue

"You don't feel lucky?" There was the faintest hint of teasing in the question, and Toph ached, just a little, to know if he was smiling.

"Angry is more the word that springs to mind."

"I won't say anything until we fix this – and we will fix it," He rested his hands lightly on her shoulders, his touch tentative and searching despite his ardent words. Her anger flared a little at the reminder of everything between them causing his hesitance but sputtered out just as quickly, overwhelmed by relief that he hadn't run. "Though we may have to be predestined afterwards, because I'm never letting you go."

_I can see why you like him._ Ummi said fondly, her sympathy echoing through Toph's mind.

Sobbing laughter clawed at her chest, but Toph only allowed a single derisive snort to escape.

"Oma's breath, Twinkletoes, you are such a girl."

* * *

Katara paused in her headlong rush just around the corner from the makeshift council chambers to readjust her appearance a final time.

"No Fire Lady hairpiece?"

She jumped about a foot in the air at the sound of Mai's low voice so close in what had appeared to be an empty hall. Katara glared at her and saw the other woman's omnipresent apathy lessen ever so slightly. "I'm the Water Tribe representative for the council," She gestured to her very traditionally cut dress and rebeaded hair loops. "Better not to advertise that my loyalties are complicated."

Mai nodded in approval. "I thought the same."

It took Katara a moment to notice that she wasn't wearing the traditional dark maroon and gold of her uniform as Shield Mistress, but unrelieved black. With her dark hair and pale skin Mai look almost ghostly, the only spot of colour was the band that held half her hair back from her face.

It was blue.

"What are you doing Mai?"

"I am entrusted with the welfare of the royal family."

"You're entrusted with _Zuko's _welfare; and I'm not part of the royal family yet! You can't come into the council chambers."

"Lord Qun keeps a bodyguard, and Master Piando's manservant attends him."

Katara turned sharply on her heel and began to leave, pointedly ignoring Mai's argument and trying not to notice the way she fell neatly into step just behind her left shoulder. "You're Zuko's head of security. Don't you think it might be seen as a slight conflict of interest?"

"Nonsense," Mai deadpanned. "We've known one another since the war; I'm merely looking out for your wellbeing."

"We tried to _kill each other_ during the war!" Any further chance for protest was cut short as Lord Qun, the second assistant representative to the Council for the Earth Kingdom – a man who was eager to take advantage of every scrap of power such a title bestowed – came sauntering over to her.

More minor nobles than Katara had been aware the Fire Nation possessed had descended on the Capital City in the last few days; everyone with the slightest tenuous claim to the dragon throne eager to press on Agni's line and exploit any visible weaknesses. If they could claim that the imperial family had lost the mandate of heaven, Zuko would be forced to abdicate or suffer a civil war in an already weakened country. Katara was hoping that the Council would see sense; even if there was no love lost among certain representatives and the Fire Nation, Zuko was a good ruler to his people and more importantly he was not interested in further conflict. Better a stable predictable opponent then a new Fire Lord who might not be so inclined to forget their nation's dreams of conquest.

"Master Katara,"

"Lord Qun," She kept her greeting suffused with a warmth she did not feel. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"Not at all," He smiled. "It is so rare we have the opportunity to assist on an issue so close to one of our own."

Katara couldn't stop her eyes from narrowing. "It is a request from the Fire Lord." She reminded Qun pointedly.

"And you are future Fire Lady; quite the powerful pair. General Howe sends his regrets," He changed the course of the conversation smoothly before Katara had a chance to respond. "He will be another week in Ba Sing Se, but he has sent me his seal and empowered me to act in his stead."

"I am sure you are eager for the opportunity to finally contribute to the council." Katara allowed herself a pointed smile just to rub Qun's status as a lackey in a little more. "We should not keep everyone waiting."

"The lady," Qun's eyes flicked to Mai with just enough of a pause before the honorific to imply he thought she was anything but. "Is, of course, to remain here?"

"Shieldmistress Mai takes her oath seriously," Katara told him without an ounce of emotion colouring her voice. "And has more than proven herself to be discreet and trustworthy." _Unlike you._ She wanted to say; keen to remind the man that she had no respect for those who sought power from the council by muddying the process. Each Nation had one vote, one verdict they could offer collectively, but every time a new secondary representative was added it complicated the decision making process.

With a nod that was perhaps less gracious then she would normally have offered, Katara swept past the minor lord, just catching the approving twist of Mai's mouth on the edge of her peripheral vision as the entered the makeshift council chamber together.

Technically the Council of Four Nations was not supposed to convene on any sovereign soil but as the problem of the trial was strictly Fire Nation, no one seemed inclined to argue the point. Zuko's steward had managed to find a perfectly square table somewhere in the myriad rooms of the palace and clear one of the ministerial meeting rooms of the banners emblazoned with the sigils of the fire nation provinces. The result was plain and slightly dark, but there wasn't anything so obviously Fire Nation about the room that they couldn't pretend this was an unbiased meeting.

She and Qun were apparently the last two to arrive and conversation fell quiet when Katara entered the room. Not a particular surprise - she'd worked hard to ensure that her place in this group was not only acknowledged but respected and with Mai's effortlessly unnerving presence at her back - but a welcome one. Katara settled herself on the unoccupied side of the square table and drew breath to greet the council.

"Before we begin," Qun interrupted smoothly, taking his place as de facto leader of the Earth Kingdom contingent in Howe's absence. "There is a pressing matter of protocol to deal with."

Since the inception of the council the original four representatives had grown, ostensibly to encompass the diverse needs of the people. General Howe had been chosen to speak for the Earth Kingdom, but he was a man of Ba Sing Se and had been the first to admit he might not be qualified to speak for the whole of the earth nation. To remedy the problem, two seconds had been appointed; Qun from the North and a woman from the Southern Chin Peninsula. Following this example, Piando had selected a second to represent the island cities of the Fire Nation and Shyu, the Sage who had stood for the Air Nomads in lieu of the Avatar had requested the assistance of his counterparts among the earth and water sages. Katara was the only one to stand alone. In the years since she had been chosen to replace Bato as the Water Tribe representative to the council no one had come forward to request she take on a second. It was a point of no small pride that she was trusted to speak for the interests of her people as a whole.

But when Bato stepped through the doors looking tired and guilty with a younger warrior on his heels she instantly knew what it meant.

"Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, Queen-elect of the Fire Nation, it has come to the attention of this council that your loyalties on the subject we have been assembled to discuss are conflicted and therefor in question. You are being relived of your responsibilities until such time as we choose to reinstate you," Qun's face was the picture of solicitous gravity but there was an ugly sort of triumph in his voice. "Unless you wish to formally withdraw yourself from candidacy?"

"No." The word slipped out involuntarily, a disbelieving denial. Behind her chair Mai shifted so that her hand pressed against the back of Katara's shoulder and she regained enough presence of mind to turn her disavowal into an answer. "No I will return to service when the council has need of me again."

Bato was a terrible choice for her replacement; he was a wise man and a capable second for Hakoda but there was a reason he had stepped down the moment Katara had come of age. Bato was a tribesman, not a politician and in a world which still thought of them as barbarians, the water tribe needed to be not just as good as everyone else when it came to partisan games, but better. She could already tell that he didn't want to be here and Katara knew everyone else would see it too.

The boy at his side couldn't have been much older than her own twenty-two years; she recognized him from the time Sokka had broken his nose during a particularly vicious sparring match and one of her students had repaired the fracture. He was a warrior from the Northern Tribe and Katara knew just from the way he relaxed once the obvious trappings of the Fire Nation were out of sight that he would be a problem.

In the south it was easy for cooler heads to prevail. There were so few people left and many who resented the long years of war were inclined to be magnanimous when flushed with their hard won victory. But the northern tribe had not fought in the last battles; they could only remember the siege and the loss of their beautiful princess. She had no doubt they would be pleased to return the favour.

Without her there were no allies of Zuko's family in this room.

"Master Katara," Bato's voice was apologetic. "You stand relieved."

Katara pushed back from the table, pathetically grateful for the intimidating, implacable Mai standing behind her shoulder. "I submit to the will of the council."

"Do not worry," Qun offered in a low voice as she passed. "Bato has more than proven himself to be unbiased and trustworthy."

As one, Katara and Mai snapped their inscrutable gaze to him and even though Katara's head was spinning with new concerns she couldn't help but feel smugly gratified when the man quailed under their combined stare.

"You knew that was going to happen." She hissed to Mai as the doors closed after them.

"No one gets into this palace without my knowledge," Mai remained expressionless under the accusation. "But it could have been nothing. Better that they think we were unprepared."

"I _was_ unprepared." Katara snapped. "And how exactly is this to our advantage when we don't have a plan?"

"We know the powers that are arrayed against us." She began to tick their options off on her fingers. "We're not wasting time trying to curry the favour of people who'll never give it. You are free to throw all support behind the Imperial Family. See? You were right."

"Right about what?"

"I am looking after Zuko."

Katara knew she was gaping like a landed fish, but it still took her far too long to close her mouth. Mai's arguments held water but there had definitely been ways to achieve the same result without making her look quite so much the fool. "You lying, crafty eelshark," She laughed. "Well played."

Mai inclined her head with a murmur of "Fire Lady," that wasn't deferent in the least.

* * *

_A/N - Short chapter this time, just to prove nothing has been abandoned while real life tries to overwhelm me. The next installment will come much faster, I promise. _


	14. Ahriman's Prison

**XIV. Ahriman's Prison**

* * *

According to the foggy swamp tribe, no one went to the old city except the priestesses on special holidays. Only waterbenders were permitted to enter the temple ruin, but it seemed the avatar came close enough because the denizens of the foggy swamp waved him on with absent, half deferential nods. Toph was a silent wraith at his side; they had barely spoken three words together since packing up their makeshift camp and now that Aang knew what he was looking for he couldn't help but notice the way she cocked her head to the sound of an inaudible voice, or scrunched up her face in reaction to something that he couldn't hear. With Ummi talking to her it seemed as though Toph couldn't focus on anything else.

A few of the swampbenders offered assistance or advice, but the two of them were mostly ignored as they picked their way through the village. He couldn't help thinking, rather uncomfortably, of the way people treated plague victims; as though they couldn't be seen or heard, as though they were already dead. With his free hand he couldn't help reaching out for Toph, trying not to worry when her fingers only gripped his own absently and did not squeeze back.

The ancient city beyond the swampbender settlement was as mouldering as their temporary shelter had been, but the scale of it was enough to awe. It must have been easily as vast as the great city at the North Pole though very little remained. Close to the center of the crumbling metropolis the ground dropped away as though it had been sheared off; far below the ridge a wide stagnant pool had formed in the basin, the remains of tall stone structures rose like mountains from the water. Far away, through the gloom and the faint mist of rain through the trees Aang could see the other side and beyond the sparkle of falling light reflected off the ocean.

At his side, Toph dragged her bare foot in an arc across the damp soil and hummed in surprise. "There's something under the water…. The temple in the middle spreads out under the lake."

"It's an inlet Toph."

She cocked her head as though listening to someone on her left. "Apparently it wasn't always."

Now that she had pointed it out, Aang could see that the trees near where they stood were younger than the ones behind them. The broken cliff of earth they were standing on had once been the shoreline of the lake, before the ocean had crashed through the opposite edge and drained it out. "A tidal wave?"

Toph hummed in agreement. "Well?"

"What?"

"You're the master waterbender, Twinkletoes."

"Are you actually requesting I take you somewhere in the middle of a lake?" He couldn't resist teasing her. Toph made a face at him and punched his arm, the gesture still slightly awkward, but reassuring all the same. Aang caught her arm and pulled her up onto his back, taking a running leap off the embankment just for the chance to hear her cry out in surprise and tug at his ears in retribution and feel for a moment, normal.

It was the work of a moment to bend ice from the murky water. As tempting as it was to skate rings around the lake, Aang opted not to push the fragile peace he and Toph had reached and focused instead on following the broken spans of stone that were all that remained of a bridge to where steps slippery with moss met the waterline.

The temple itself was a tiered pyramid reminiscent of the way that the great city at the North Pole rose in half rings to the palace. Here only the corners were rounded off; the early stages of the curving architecture that the water tribes were so fond of, built from stone instead of ice to account for the warm climate, though here and there he could see gaps left by the widespread use of wood as a building material, long since rotted away.

The air seemed thick here, even more so than in the fetid, pollen rich miasma of the swamp, and it fairly vibrated with power. Aang was reminded sharply of the unnatural stillness in the sun warrior city. The water tribe had not turned to beasts to learn their bending, but that latent ancient strength that Ran and Sha had exuded was familiar and it called to him.

"Oh yeah," his voice was. "This is definitely it."

Toph scrabbled to find purchase on the moss-slick stones. "It's glowing."

"You can sense that?" Aang wrapped a hand around her forearm and together they stumbled their way, half shoving, half pulling each other up the summit of the stairs.

She tapped one temple with a wry smile. "Another present from Ummi."

Aang looked down instinctively to hide his grimace, which was the only thing that saved him from tumbling arse over teakettle as the stairs abruptly peaked and then lead back downwards into a depression at the squared off pinnacle of the hulking monolith. The second set of steps lead only a few feet down, to a flat space at the center, where a roughhewn stone altar sat before an arching doorway through which Aang could see only impenetrable darkness.

He paused for a moment, letting Toph explore while he rubbed at his temples, the resonance of energy in this place set his teeth on edge.

"Twinkletoes," Toph's voice sounded oddly muted, as though it was coming from a great distance. "I think we need to go this way."

He turned towards her but the movement made his vision dim at the edges. "I can't-" Aang could only hear the rushing of his own blood in his ears as her mouth shaped his name.

_Aang. _

Roku's voice, panicked, and Kyoshi's; a chorus of hundreds cried out for him. He reached out to clutch the altar and everything went black.

* * *

Toph had turned when the blaze of power began at the edge of her perception, just fast enough to catch her arms around Aang before he crumpled face first to the ground.

"Twinkletoes? Aang," She shifted to pull his head into her lap, tapping lightly at his cheek. "Wake up you massive fainting girl." He remained unresponsive, his breathing shallow and his pulse was slow under her fingers, a rhythm more akin to deep sleep than unconsciousness.

_It's the Avatar State,_ Ummi assured her. _The spirit world is strong here, they must have summoned him. _

_I've got to wake him up,_"Aang!" She said insistently. "You airhead get out of there."

_He won't be able to hear you._

_I will not leave him there. Do you have any idea –_ She stopped herself mid-sentence. Ummi knew what had happened to Aang in the spirit world because Toph knew. _How do I get him out?_

_I don't know._

_You know everything else, you helped me get here, messed with my vision. Do something!_

_Did you forget that we're doing this precisely because I can't contact the Avatar's previous incarnations?_ Ummi's tone was like a strike across the back of her head, but Toph ignored her in favour of attempting to jolt Aang back to wakefulness.

_Maybe,_ The tribeswoman relented. _If I was out I could find him for you? _

_Would that work?_

_It might._ Her voice was only slightly dubious. _I can't think of any other way._

Toph eased Aang's head carefully down onto the ground and stood, mapping out the size of the slab she wouldn't need to bend up from beneath him in order to ferry the sleeping Avatar along.

_What are you doing?_

_Well, he's too big to carry._ She didn't understand Ummi's confusion.

_If you move him, the Avatar may not be able to find the way back to his corporeal body. _

_I'__m not leaving him here defenceless!_

_We're in an abandoned temple in the center of a lake, what could possibly get to the Avatar here? _

_Sea monsters!_ Toph protested, shuddering slightly at the memory of the Unagi's roar. _Giant insects, sunburn. _

_Sunburn?_

Toph absolutely refused to acknowledge the drizzle that was matting her hair to her neck_. I can't leave him all alone. _

_The longer you leave it the longer Aang is alone and helpless in the spirit world_. Ummi reminded her ominously.

Toph grit her teeth, but twisted her feet to summon a stone tent over Aang's limp body. _Good,_ She could almost hear Ummi smiling. _We need to go, quickly._

The stairs that lead down into the belly of the temple were winding enough to quickly disorient Toph's usually strong sense of direction, but eventually they lead out into a cavernous chamber, two parallel stone paths ran the length of the room, dividing it into deep channels which seemed to serve no purpose, until Toph remembered the sharp drop in the water level of the lake outside. In the heyday of the temple the stone paths would have served as bridges.

Which was why it made no sense that the center fissure descended still deeper, down a set of steps which had been worn down by the tread of countless feet to a door flanked by massive wave-carved pillars well below what would have been the waterline.

With barely a prod from Ummi, Toph ignored the steps that lead up and out of the chamber at the end of each bridge in favour of the enormous door below. It was formed of banded metal and stone, with a curving elaborate lock that stretched across almost the whole surface.

_A waterbender lock._ Ummi explained.

Toph nodded, unnecessarily, remembering a similar shape stretched across a wooden door in the Southern Air Temple. Confused, she reached out to stroke the surface. _It's rock isn't it? Why would they build a door with a waterbender lock out of stone?_ The entrance gave off a strange resonance in her vision, she could pick out motes of silica and quartz encroaching across it like bendable moss but parts of it bore the heavy almost echoless resonance of wood. _It's petrified_. She realized, remembering a lesson her father had given her once as a child – that all things in their own time become stone and dust and ashes. The gate had remained untended beneath the water long enough for the wood to petrify.

_What we need must be behind it_, Ummi interrupted her revelation. _I think we might be able to get through if we trick the bolt. _

Toph snorted, shifting her weight. She could easily have worked the metal of the lock through its rotations, slotting the various rusty tumblers back into the right spot to let the door swing free. Instead she opted to blast the whole thing backwards, her trepidation manifesting into a surge of power that sent the whole section of wall rocketing backwards into the gap behind.

It fell for a long time before she heard the crash.

"Watch that first step." Toph said, her voice more grim than wry when it echoed back to her.

She tried for a moment to imagine how such a thing would have looked to someone who depended on the light; a great black empty maw, a shaft so far down it was difficult for even her to sense the bottom. Even the heat of a torch would only have radiated so far in this endlessly dark space, and any traveler would be forever guessing what might be waiting, watching from just beyond where they could see. There was a narrow stairway that wrapped around the wall like the thread of a screw and Toph braced her hand against the pitted wall and began to descend.

_How could waterbenders have built this place?_

_Not the tribes,_ Ummi whispered, her voice almost reverent. _This place belongs to the spirits. _

Toph wanted to ask how she knew. Why it wasn't blazing in her sight the way everything else had but there was something pressing on her, the sense of vastness, the silence of Oma knew how many years or maybe just the feeling of Ummi's confidence overwhelming her own unease; she stayed silent and kept walking downwards.

Her bare feet ached, and shivers had begun to wrack her body by the time Toph reached the last step, stumbling slightly at the strangeness of level ground. The air here was icy, unwarmed by even the faintest of light. To her right and left she could feel shallow alcoves lining the wall, each riddled with apertures – catacombs – and in front there was a hallway leading to a small, high ceilinged chamber.

_Is this it? _

Water dulled relief carvings lined the passage, traces of the metal based paints that decorated it sharp in her sight – The story of a man twisted into unimaginable cruelty, who bent his will to malice and slaughtered innocents in order to increase his power, who was caught, defeated and imprisoned as both mortal and spirit; trapped outside the wheel of life into an eternity of bondage. Toph resisted the urge to run her sensitive fingers over the images, disturbed at the thought of even touching such a history.

By comparison the small room that the hallway opened into was rough and unadorned; it even lacked the well tread quality that the rest of the floors had possessed. The only feature was the enormous metal rings set into the walls, from which dangled dozens, hundreds of ancient chains.

Hanging above the floor at the far wall of the crypt, suspended and enshrouded by the massive restraints was a statue. The metal obscured Toph's ability to identify the form that might once have been human or might have been something else; twisted and grotesquely misshapen. The chains were threaded with that strange bluish light and at the center of its body was a round metal plate that blazed so brightly she almost cast up a hand as though to shield her vision from it.

_That's him?_

_Whatever mortal form Koh__ had is inside the statue. _

_Well that's easy__ enough._ Toph gestured sharply, angling her hand down and away in a move intended to turn the stone and its contents to powder.

There was no reaction from the effigy.

_It needs to be unlocked._ Ummi explained, her voice high from tension that reverberated through Toph's mind. _You have to touch it_. The woman's presence in her mind seemed almost to shrink and shift; more a part of her and less intrusive all at once.

Toph reached forward, and pressed her palm flat against the cold metal.

There was a faint whisper in her mind like the rustling of ten thousand legs, almost unheard as Toph's muscles locked up for an instant and were suddenly disconnected from her brain. She tried to leap backwards, to shout, to touch her bending but there was no response. Nothing but her awareness of the world remained, enough to watch the ancient metal writhe and slide back, depositing the statue to the ground as a dark triumphant laugh filled her ears.

"Ah, my ersatz daughter returns triumphant. You have exceeded my expectations Ummi." A voice rich, low and cultured filled her head, a voice Toph had heard in her nightmares and memories not her own.

The Face Stealer.

"And our bargain?" Ummi's words, spilled out in Toph's voice, were slightly tremulous.

"Yes, yes my dear, all in good time. First I want a moment with our little earthbender."

Raging, Toph threw all of her barely leashed panic against the intangible walls that bound her and regained control of her own body long enough to spit at the twisted statue. "Let me go you filthy monster!" The mocking laughter rung out again and Toph felt her tenuous autonomy wrested away.

"Um-_mi_," Koh chided. "The girl seems quick to slip your leash."

"She opened her mind to me willingly," Toph felt her body flinch, but Ummi gave no other indication that she'd heard Toph's scream of _Traitor!_ "I can hold her as long as I need to."

"Good. You should know by now that I will be most displeased if you fail me again." The warning was heavy with implication and Ummi shuddered ever so slightly.

_You treacherous bitch you said you couldn't lie!_

"_I _can't lie, little lotus," Koh whispered silkily and it felt almost as though he was standing close enough to raise the hairs on the back of her neck, like he was murmuring right in her ear. "Or at least, I couldn't. There were a lot of things I couldn't do until you were kind enough to absolve me of my penance and release me from bondage. You and the lovely Ummi. Did you read the inscriptions on the walls girl? Or is reading beyond someone so crippled?"

_You__ think mocking is supposed to intimidate me?_ She shouted at him. _You're nothing but an overgrown insect and I wasn't helping you!_

"But you touched the panel," Even with no apparent physical form Toph knew he was smirking. "One whom I have touched, still alive and acting of their own will to open the lock. So obliging of you to join your consciousness with Ummi and fulfill all the requirements."

_You planned this all along, _Toph directed the accusation to Ummi's now dominant presence in her mind_. I would have helped you! We could have found another way!_

_This was the only way. _

_Ummi! _She screamed. _**Ummi!**_

_I'm sorry._

* * *

"Call it off Sokka!"

Katara burst into the room like the rising wind before a hurricane and the advisor who had been listing out grain storage reports into Zuko's ear as the young Fire Lord picked at his lunch withdrew from the room almost faster than the eye could follow. To his right, his mother stood with a placating gesture that went completely unnoticed as the siblings squared off on the opposite side of the dining table.

"I told you I can't Katara, you said you respected my reasons-"

"Dark water _take_ your reasons!" Her voice was a screech. "This is more important that your old anger! They are trying to take the throne from Zuko!"

"What?" At the opposite end of the table, where she was guarding the closed doors Mai gave him a tight nod. Zuko pinched at the bridge of his nose with a groan of frustration. "Agni cursed idiots," He swore to no one in particular, trying to quell his instinct to stride out and battle any who might challenge his right to rule.

"The council has deposed me," Katara continued. "They say I'm unfit to serve, and without anyone to temper them, they _will_ find her guilty."

Ursa made a small strangled noise, one hand over her mouth as though she could stop the anguish on her face from escaping; she turned away before anyone could move towards her, bracing one hand against the chair she had risen from and keeping her back to the room, leaving Zuko unsure whether or not what comfort he could offer would be welcome.

"She is guilty." Mai said dispassionately, looking utterly unfazed by Ursa's pain, despite the way it had drawn the rest of them up short.

"But that's not the point!" Katara looked from Mai to her brother, regaining the thread of her argument. "This whole trial is just an excuse – a reason to question the right of his family to the dragon throne."

"And?" Suki's voice was deceptively calm; she did not even look up, though Zuko and the rest of the room immediately turned their attention towards her.

"Zuko is a good king –" His defense was taken up by Katara before he could protest for himself, but Suki's attention was on him when she raised her head to interrupt.

"Is he the only man in this entire nation who might be a good king?" And how many times had he asked himself _that _question over the years? He had been born and raised to rule this Nation, but only under the doctrine of his fathers, men who had set an entire world at war. But his self-doubt was disturbed by Suki's attention shifting back towards Katara. "Maybe if your judgement wasn't so impaired you could see that."

"I am not-"

"Yes, you are compromised!" Sokka cried, looking relived that someone else had been the first to mention it. "Look at you Katara! You were supposed to be the hope of the south-

"The Southern Tribes don't need me."

"Yue's breath they don't!" Sokka was the only tribesman Zuko had ever heard call on Yue's name, and never unless he was in deadly earnest. "The only southern waterbender in three generations? Our last master? You are _everything_ to our people Katara! I can lead them, I _will_ lead them; but you gave them hope – and then you ran away, to be queen of the nation that _decimated_ us."

"I love him!" Even Zuko could tell she was grasping at straws for the argument. Katara's humiliated desperation showed clearly on her face and he stepped around the table's edge to call an end to the argument. "And I will not live my whole life as just a symbol. The war was eight years ago Sokka! Our people lived without waterbenders before and they are thriving now. The Fire Nation needs Zuko more than the Southern Tribes need me and I love him enough to make that sacrifice," Katara's expression twisted into a nasty smirk as she pointedly turned her gaze from her brother to Suki and back. "Not that you two would know anything about that. How long will you two love each other, hide behind your duty and do _nothing_?"

"Like Zuko would be nothing if he wasn't the king?" Sokka said scathingly, keeping his attention fixed on his sister despite the way Suki had gone white at the jibe. "This has nothing to do with Suki and me. You feel guilty because you don't care about Azula, you think she deserves to die just as much as I do, but you'll protect the position of this family, this family who have brought nothing but ill to the world so you can play at being empress!"

The ringing crack of Katara's slap across his face was deafening in the silence that followed.

Suki leapt across the table and caught Katara's wrist before she could bring any water to bear, her voice low and deadly. "Do not do that again."

"Why do you care Suki?" Mai's voice cut though the room like a whip crack. "You've been silent till now, watching us all panic. It's almost like you planned it."

"Mai do not-" Zuko tried to stop her, but the venom in Mai's tone had done it's work and the two warriors were concerned only with one another now.

"Did they offer you money to tell them where to strike at us? Or are you perfectly willing to see a whole country fall for your vengeance?"

"I did not start this."

"But you'll watch it happen," Katara growled. "and do nothing."

"Why is _my_ old anger unreasonable Katara?" Suki rounded back on her, ignoring Mai again in favour of an easier target. "You were willing to chase down a man for his blood more than ten years after he wronged you."

"I forgave him."

"You were too weak to take his life!" They were nose to nose now; with Sokka too angry to choose a side, Zuko felt paralyzed, unable to decide whether his intervention would help, or be the tipping point to something worse. "Even with Kya's spirit crying out for retribution you weren't strong enough. You didn't love her enough!"

"Don't you talk about my mother!"

Sokka dived to restrain Katara's arms before she could strike out, but the betrayal on his face was clear. Suki had crossed a line and now they were all fighting each other. She seemed past caring now, her calm façade in tatters as she ripped into them.

"Why is she worth justice and not me? Not anyone his sister slaughtered in her madness? She should live just because it's politically expedient – because it will damage Zuko's _credibility_? Let their family lose the throne. Maybe then this war will finally be over."

"Oh the rallying cry of Kyoshi herself!" Katara hung limply in Sokka's grip, not bothering to turn her attention away from Suki, "Vengeance! No matter the cost in human lives!"

"Kyoshi protected her own!"

"Do you think your beloved icon would approve of this? Throw an entire nation to the wolves? Threaten the world with another war for the personal retribution of one broken warrior? She would be the first in line to spit at your feet." For a moment it looked as though Katara might actually spit on her and Suki turned almost apoplectic with rage.

"You meddling blasphemous little ice-harpy!" She spun out her fans and Katara broke Sokka's restraining hold. Fruitlessly Zuko wished Aang was there and then cursed himself for needing the tempering influence of a boy, no matter how close they were, to do what he knew was right.

"Enough!" His shout brought the room to a standstill. "This is my kingdom, and she is my sister!"

"Toph's your sister, _she_ tried to kill you!"

"No!" He bellowed in vehement denial. "It doesn't matter, you _know_ it doesn't matter." Zuko dropped his head into his hands, everything about him collapsing in on itself. Even his voice sounded frail and strained. "In the heat of battle, for my country, to end the war, _maybe_ I could have. But this? She's my baby sister. And I hate her, and that doesn't make one iota of difference." He glanced up as a hand dropped onto his shoulder and looked up into his mother's face, wet with tears, but her mouth set in a grim line. When their eyes met Ursa gave the faintest of nods, her composure nearly collapsing with the gesture.

"The council is right. Right to step in and right to remove you Katara," He wanted to give her a sympathetic glance, some look to let her know that he didn't think she was unworthy or incapable, but Zuko was afraid if he stopped talking he would never be able to say this. "I will not let foreign powers turn our justice to their own ends; but if my people demand she dies, then Azula will die. If they say I am unfit to rule then I will bow to the will of the Fire Nation."

"My Lord-" The timid voice at his elbow was like a spark to tinder.

"Not. Now!" Zuko roared at the quailing messenger.

"Come, come brother," The voice that stopped the whole room was faintly hoarse from disuse, but no less mocking for it all. As one, Katara and Sokka moved to stand shoulder to shoulder between Suki and the door; ready to ward off an attack.

Azula's black hair was short now - shorn off to make things easier for her caretakers and to stop her from lighting herself on fire – but still scraped back into some semblance of a topknot. Her clothes were neat but worn, a rusty prison red with none of the trappings that would mark her as a princess but her bearing, which was as regal and arrogant as ever, even with the cuffs that bound her hands into fists and the two chi blockers who flanked her on either side.

She was smirking as she sauntered through the doors. "It is only in the arguments of friends that we learn the truth about ourselves. Who else cares enough to be so honest?" Her gaze snapped to Mai, who still stood alone at the far end of the table from Zuko and he watched his bodyguard retreat behind her impassive mask, not one flicker of expression giving away her true reaction to the woman who had left her to rot in the Fire Nation's worst prison.

"So wonderful to be home," She continued airily, leaning against the ornate chair at the foot of the table, directly opposite Zuko's own her hawk like gaze swept the room and came to land on Suki, where she stood looking afraid but defiant behind Katara and Sokka's protective shoulders. Her grin was like that of a predator toying with its prey. "So many _good_ memories."

"Azula." Ursa seemed unaffected by the spell her daughter had woven over the room, stepping away from Zuko and ever so slightly closer to her long lost daughter.

Azula didn't actually step back away from Ursa, but her whole body seemed to involuntarily recoil for an instant before she shook her head ever so slightly and fixed her slightly darkened smirk on him. Zuko had visited his sister a few times in the earliest days of her psychotic break, until the staff had asked him to stop coming in order to keep from upsetting her further. He had reluctantly agreed, coming to terms with the fact that anything he remembered of the person she had been was no longer there. Her eyes when she looked at him had never held any hint of recognition, lost in the tightly twining curls of her mania. That wild madness was still there lurking underneath, but the look she gave him was so _Azula_ that Zuko felt as though she'd kicked him in the gut.

"I hear that I am to die for my crimes," Beside him, Zuko felt his mother flinch and Azula's cruel smile grew wider, though she never looked away from him. "Surely you won't begrudge me a last family meal?"

* * *

_A/N - Next time on The Long Game - More peril! More villainous monologuing! More emotional torment! Fight scenes and possibly an irritable fish! _

_Thank you all for your very sweet reviews!_


	15. Horatius

**XV. Horatius**

_Who will stand, on either hand, and keep the bridge with me?_

* * *

Aang opened his eyes to the low sensation, dreamlike world of the spirit realm and tried very hard not to start panicking. His breath came in increasingly desperate gasps as he squeezed his eyes shut again and attempted to force his way back to reality.

"Aang."

Roku's voice reminded him of Katara's when she had found him neglecting training to fool around with Sokka and it very nearly turned his fear to hysterical laughter. He opened his eyes and rolled to one side, levering himself up carefully with a wary eye on his audience. "I'm not staying." Aang swore, turning on his heel to make defiant eye contact with his last four incarnations in their turn.

They were not alone; the slightly diaphanous shapes of others stood behind, innumerable faces, fierce and ageless, with only the styles of their clothing to indicate how old they might have been, a faint blue glow behind their eyes.

Behind Roku and slightly to his left stood a man who was barely more than a boy, or a girl on the cusp of womanhood. It was impossible to focus on him for long, his form was the fire of Angi, the lightless depths of the deepest ocean, the dense heart of the world and the cyclonic whirlwind of a hurricane. Even in the insubstantial landscape of the spirit realm there was not enough or all too much of him to pin into a solid form.

The nameless first Avatar.

Aang's fear is like the rising of blood in his throat when he'd run too hard and too long, the sensation of fire in his chest, lungs screaming for something he's no longer sure he will be permitted to have. For all his defiance, they are many and he is alone.

"You need not fear us."

"Then why did you bring me here by force?"

"We called, and you came."

"I did not come to you. I promised never to return to this place and I meant it!" He was shouting now, His fists up, knees bent, as though he could fight them all off. "I won't let you trap me here again."

"This is unnecessary."

"Unnecessary? Four whole years of my life I wasted away here because of you," Aang spat. "Don't pretend you've been dead long enough for that to mean nothing."

"I remember quite clearly what twelve years of dreaming meant for me." Roku said, his expression not cruel, but intent and uncompromising.

Kyoshi glared archly from her place to Aang's right. "Fourteen years I suffered them Roku, you were hardly the worst off."

"You should have focused more of your time on airbending," Kuruk shook his head at her, "too fond of your own discipline." Kyoshi twitched, as though she was trying very hard to resist hitting him with her fans.

"Is now really the time for such contests?" Yangchen interrupted, placating. Kuruk looked ever so slightly abashed and Aang wondered for a moment if every Avatar's mentor could make them feel like a recalcitrant child.

"You're just embarrassed you were shown up by the new Air model." Kuruk jabbed a thumb in Aang's direction and Aang fought the urge to fall to the ground and genuflect at the feet of a woman his people had considered a paragon of the air's virtues. Blush staining his cheeks, he held up a hand to draw back Roku's attention but his venerable ancestors continued to bicker, ignoring Aang even as he growled in frustration.

"Your sacrifice was demanded," The First cut across all discussion, the resonance of his thousand voices a dull roar in the unnatural stillness. "For the sake of the balance."

Roku nodded. "You mastered all four elements more swiftly than any Avatar before you Aang." He said sympathetically. "And you were so young. There is a reason that an Avatar is not called to his duty until the age of sixteen. To give them a chance at a childhood and a bond with the world they are sworn to protect, to be sure that they have the capacity for empathy that a child often lacks, but also to make certain they are prepared for those dreams."

"From the day they awaken their powers until they master the Avatar State, the Avatar dreams as you did. All possible futures, all the other paths and consequences. The duty we have above anything we might want for ourselves is impressed into each of us. The cost of our power must be fully understood."

"I didn't … I had nightmares, but not like that until you brought me here."

"You were too young; too young and too strong," Kyoshi stared him down coldly, but there was a hint of pride in her eyes - there and gone in an instant. "You mastered all four elements because there was no other choice, but then you were a fully realized Avatar with all the blithe naiveté of youth, flushed with a grand victory and all too willing to be ruled by those you loved."

"We couldn't risk the wait," Yangchen continued with more compassion in her voice. "And there was no guarantee the dreams would stop without the trigger of mastery. So we chose for you. A few lost years against a lifetime of nightmares."

"Did it ever occur to any of you that I might have agreed if you'd just asked me?"

"Because you had always been so willing to carry out your duties in the past?" The shout came from outside the circle of Aang's four mentors; his incarnations speaking over one another, decrying his failures.

"Insolent _boy_."

"We felt it was the only choice."

"- ran from your responsibilities before."

"The Avatar serves," The First said simply. "Now you are called to serve again."

"If you are quite finished with your domestic troubles," The heavily accented voice made Aang whirl around in surprise. Where there had been only a barren windswept wasteland and the crowd of his former selves, now behind him there rose a tiny hillock between the drooping trees of a familiar everglade. Atop the hill, folded in lotus sat a white furred baboon, draped in a rusty orange robe and a garland of trumpet shaped flowers looking incredibly displeased to be there.

"I remember you!" Aang cried before he could stop himself.

"And I you, Aang of the Southern Air Temple," The creatures expression soured further. "You are still irritating."

"Oh…sorry?"

His half-hearted apology didn't seem to appease the primate. "Koh is attempting to escape. You will stop him."

"What!"

"You were not brought here by your past lives, or by me. This is a trap and we are here to contain the damage."

"I don't understand."

"And I do not have the time or the patience to explain. The girl is unlocking his chains. He will take possession of her and be unleashed upon the earth and spirit realm alike. This cannot be allowed to happen, do you understand? Koh cannot be loosed as an immortal." The beast raised one eyebrow and fixed Aang with a gimlet glare. "If you fail Avatar, rest assured it will be you the face stealer comes for first."

"But you've been calling me for ages," Aang protested, with a half glance over his shoulder to include his past lives in the accusation. "If you knew this was happening why didn't you stop it?

"Koh is attempting to forge his own bridge between worlds. This is Avatar business."

"Then why don't you help?"

"Because I swore that when he unlocked my chains, I would let him go." The Baboon unfolded himself from lotus and stood, shifting briefly into the form of a red-faced scowling man in white robes and a judges cap before stepping from his hill and vanishing into the ether.

Aang's blood ran cold and he rounded on his incarnations his voice slightly high with shock. "Was that-?"

"He is Enma, Judge of the Dead." The host of Avatars were gone. Only Roku remained, the faintest corona of the First Avatar drifting around him like smoke. "Do you remember the way to Koh's realm? You must hurry Aang."

His feet remained rooted, his head swirling. "Is that who we serve, Roku? Are we just agents of death?"

The old man straightened, affronted; His robes whipped in a breeze that could not be felt, the headpiece of the prince around his topknot gleamed golden, though there was no sunlight. "We serve only the balance of the worlds Aang. Our loyalty has never been to Enma, nor any spirit."

Aang looked at his feet, and then back to the face of his mentor. A man he had worshiped and challenged and feared. The closest thing to a father he had found after Gyatso's death, who he believed had betrayed him to the cruel whims of their past selves. "And you'll just watch me and hope I come out of this alive?"

Roku shook his head. "You have been made to carry a terrible burden in your short life Aang, but do not let anger blind you. We are kin," He smiled gently. "We will always try our best to protect you."

The moment seemed to hold a long time before breaking, but then Roku was shoving him towards the weeping trees. "Go, boy! There is no time to waste. We will be there to lend our power when you need us but remember: Koh cannot be allowed to enter your world as an immortal!"

* * *

The feral marshland seemed less labyrinthine now than it had when he was a child, Aang found the way opening up before him as though the land itself was egging him onwards. Where the land began to give way to tall spires shrouded in mist, though, the whole shape of the world seemed to alter before his eyes. What had been a place of diffused light and leeched away colour had become dark and ominous. Heavy thunderclouds had taken the place of the mists, flashes of far off lightning spearing through their opaque depths. The sunlight had been replaced with a sickly, acidic yellow-green glow emanating from the endless chasm below. Aang couldn't tell whether it was the different quality of the light or if the whole place had been fundamentally altered, but the sandy plinths he had traversed as a boy were now iron grey; slick enough to offer a dull sheen and to make his crossing even more treacherous.

Balancing lightly on the balls of his feet, Aang leapt from rock to rock, his attention fixed on the great gnarled tree at the center of this strange stormy world, the one thing that had not changed since his last visit. Fragments of stone skittered away under his feet as Aang jumped for the narrow shelf of space between the black gnarled roots and he pinwheeled desperately before managing to seize hold of a knot in the trunk. Grunting with the effort, Aang hauled his body flat against the rough bark and twisted, gaining secure footing enough to edge himself towards the opening where roots and rock gave way to a long dark tunnel.

The sickly sweet smell of putrefaction emanated from the passageway, powerful enough to make Aang gag, despite the spirit world's washed out perceptions. He paused just inside, willing himself to breath deep and grow immune to the reek, schooling his expression to apathy. There was no way to know whether Koh would be bound by the old rules of their previous encounter, but there was no need to take chances. Aang unstrapped the staff from his back and, steeling himself, stepped through the tunnel and into the burrow beneath the great hollow tree.

"Ah, the guest of honour," Koh's malevolent voice, rich and low seemed to reverberate from everywhere, but its echoes were drowned out by the rustling scrape-hiss of a thousand segmented legs. Sinuous as a cobra one wide coil wrapped around the perimeter of the den, cutting off the exit and any faint light it afforded an instant before Koh's laughing white face appeared suddenly out of the gloom.

Aang's muscles shrieked at him to fight or flee, knotted with the effort to remain still.

"No longer a child's face I see," Koh mused. "Such a pity. But then you're still as innocent as ever, hmm Avatar?"

"We have business Face Stealer."

"Hmm… that we do," The insect looked far too pleased at what Aang had intended to be a very direct answer. "Such a blank face Avatar, so disappointing after such a tempestuous display in the woods. You should have bedded your earthbender when you had the chance." The last phrase was made in a sing-song manner, Koh's face shifting from pale white noh to the long haired Ummi, her pretty features curled into a leer.

"That was you?" Aang's face burned with humiliation and his voice lost it's carefully placid cadence, but he was careful not to so much as twitch under the face stealer's scrutiny.

"Oh no. I'm afraid you made pretty Ummi quite lose her head. But the link stays open. She was never far from my particular instruction," Koh's expression turned smug before his face shifted again and for a heartstopping moment Aang was sure the next facade to appear would be Toph's. "Even as the butt of the joke, Avatar," The pouting blue oni mocked. "You must admit Ummi did her work well. Your lovely intended cracked open like an egg –"

"Leave Toph alone." Aang interrupted, but Koh continued as though he hadn't spoken.

"Her soul is open to me now, the perfect vessel. So much power in you tiny mortals sometimes."

"I won't let you have her. I'll destroy you first."

Laughter like nails on slate, high and incredulous, filled the air and the length of Koh's body coiled around Aang again, so close he could almost reach out and touch the chitinous plates. "I've had nine hundred years to plan this Avatar, since the last time one of you defeated me. Do you really think I've left anything to chance? Your body rests in the Avatar State now. If I kill you I will be rid of your kind forever," His face shifted from the smiling noh to the considering countenance of an old man. "Or perhaps you will manage to stop me after all – you certainly seem determined and killing me would be a very effective solution … provided I was still bound."

The head of Koh's sinuous form began to shift back and forth in front of Aang as though he were pacing, though his calculating eyes remained fixed on Aang's expressionless face. "I did not come into being like the sun and the moon Avatar, I was a mortal, imprisoned in the Spirit Realm and if you kill me here that is what I will become again. Mortal and everything I am at this moment; strong enough to bring down the world and I will tear her heart out. Make no mistake; if you kill me here I will ensure she dies in too much agony to even weep."

Aang gripped his staff till his knuckles went white and the wood creaked under his grip. His past lives were waiting for him, ready to lend their strength to this battle, blast Koh from the spirit world and back into the mortal realm. To Toph.

"She's waiting avatar, all trussed up like a feast for me. Her attempts at resistance won't last long, I don't even need the water bitch's help, her mind is open too far.

"This is what being the Avatar means Aang, always alone or always destroying or always destroyed. I have watched hundreds of your predecessors rise and fall – there is no escaping your destiny. I will rise and she will die."

He had spent years fighting impossible choices, trying to change the course of fate and failing time and again. Aang had tormented himself with the guilt of his decisions and hated the eternal being inside his skin who made him choose. But when he had told Toph that he had to sacrifice her to save the world, she had instructed him to let her die.

She had said _trust me_.

His staff spun out in a dark blur as Aang shifted into a fighting stance. "Alright."

"Alright?"

"Well if you've changed your mind, I'd be happy to accept your surrender. Let her go and return to your duties and we can pretend this never happened."

Koh's face shifted, ripping from the expressionless smugness of the noh mask to the dour general and shrieking monkey, but the disbelieving laughter remained in his voice. "I do not think I will, Avatar. Though I may, in her last moments, tell the woman you profess to love that you hold her life so cheaply."

"When did you start watching her?"

"I watch all the people of your world, Aang; my scope is infinitely vast."

"But if Ummi isn't really connected to Toph at all, except by your intervention when did this start?"

"When you cracked open her mind Avatar - it was you who exposed her to energybending and the touch of the spirit world."

Aang stifled a laugh. "Six months?"

"That was more than enough time to learn her behaviour. Terrified without absolute certainty of the truth; a skilled bender but too delicate in her approach; more concerned with teaching than fighting."

The last six months where Toph had put all her own desires aside to help her new students adjust. When she hadn't taken the Bandits out on patrol or even left her school. Where the only fights outside of friendly sparring matches had seen Toph trying to disguise the fact that she was earthbending or half dead from dehydration. The last six months which she had complained were the most boring of her life.

"I changed my mind."

Koh's face shifted back into a toothily grinning oni. "I thought you might have-"

"No surrender. I'm going to crush you the way someone should have long ago and when you get back to the mortal world you can tell Toph that her birthday present is getting to finish you off."

Aang hadn't expected a creature of Koh's size to move so fast.

The heavily segmented coil of flank struck him hard enough that he went flying backwards. Aang barely managed to keep his footing as he skidded through the dirt, and he was forced to duck quickly and then dive to avoid the four enormous clawed legs which slammed into the earth where he had been standing only an instant before.

Feinting right Aang swept his staff along the ground, knocking a section of Koh's legs out from under him and turning the momentum of the spin into a dash in the opposite direction. With the Face Stealer's body blocking the entrance there was almost no light near the base of the tree, the only illumination came from above, filtering in between the branches that grew inwards as well as out. Koh's body was large enough that he could fill the open space at the base of the tree, and Aang realized he would quickly be overwhelmed in the darkness. Dodging another strike, Aang tucked himself into a roll and slid across the loamy ground underneath Koh's heaving back, trying not to wince in revulsion as his cheek scraped against the creature's furred legs, sprinted towards the tree's sides and used his staff to vault himself onto the lowest knotted protuberance, barely managing to miss being skewered by a pair of Koh's long back limbs.

"Run, little boy, run!" Koh taunted.

Fighting in the spirit world wasn't like fighting anywhere else. Here there was no earth to call on, or water to manipulate. In the Spirit world everything was a matter of chi, the energy within a being, soul, strength and life force. The skill with which such power could be wielded was what counted, whatever form it appeared to take. Wounds happened the same way they did in waking life, the laws of physics in this place remained pliable, but fundamentally absolute, injuries sustained were not a matter of broken bones or torn flesh but bleeding energy, and when that energy ran out…

The side of the great tree was riddled with twisting half tunnels, like worm tracks, that Koh had worn into the trunk over several millenia, big enough for Aang to climb. He raced up high enough to get a clear view of Koh as the Face Stealer coiled below, the front of his body skittering up the opposite wall and over a low branch that reached almost the whole width of the tree, towards Aang.

Rocking back he took a running jump and threw himself out into free fall – for a moment Aang knew what it felt like not to have the soft-solid omnipresence of the air there to catch him and realized he owed his friends a heartfelt apology. He landed on Koh's back almost hard enough to stun himself, wedging his staff between two plates of chitin armour and holding gamely on while the enormous insect roiled in pain.

Koh bent himself double, twisting his body backwards to lash out at Aang with the fangs of a shrieking baboon and longer pincers that dripped something viscous and black. Aang quickly pulled his feet back under him, jumping at the last moment and kicking off against the insect's head. Desperately he reached out with his chi and yanked at the form of the world, fighting the Face Stealer's naturally superior control of his own realm to mould a branch that he could land on and stop himself from plunging to the ground below.

There were many old stories of those who ventured into the spirit world and had their physical forms die, leaving their spirit to be crushed under the ever shifting shapes and possibilities of that strange realm, but it wasn't until the great sealion turtle that Aang had learned what happened to a spirit when drained of it's chi. His teacher had called the result 'Dispersion'; the obliteration of self. Every ounce of soul blasted into nothing, its energy joining the mist of the Spirit World. The Avatar Spirit fed him more power than Aang felt he could possibly contain, he hummed with the force of it feeling Roku and Kyoshi, Kuruk and Yangchen at his back; but if he was bested, if Koh struck him down then they would all be lost. Aang's body world be found lifeless in the ancient temple he had left behind and no new Avatar would ever rise.

Despite the loaned power at his disposal, lacking the ability to bend made Aang feel next to helpless as he clambered ever upwards, looking for any possible advantage. The branches grew thicker as he climbed, and Aang moved out closer to the center of the tree, where the wide circles of his weapon would have more effect. As the first of Koh's claws began to appear Aang took hold of the far end of his staff with both hands, first spinning it over his head and whipping down around his body the way one would swing a bat. Letting the momentum of the strike spin him in one direction and then back the other way connecting with a satisfying crack against the encroaching limbs. The damage was minimal, but Koh was forced back, hissing at the sting.

Aang paused for a moment, knees bent and waiting for the next attack and the branch beneath his feet began to crumble away into nothing. Panicking he tried to force the wood to hold its shape but it was like trying to wrap his arms around swiftly melting ice. A furious look below showed Koh was nimbly climbing the walls of the tree, his white mask tilted upwards with a predatory grin. Aang jumped for the closest solid branch, turning and swinging his staff to send the remainder of the span he had been standing on slamming into the opposite side of the hollow baobab. Koh let out a broken cry of pain and his myriad legs slipped from their purchase on the wall, but he recovered quickly and the wood under Aang's feet began to disintegrate again, forcing him to resume the ascent.

Close to the top Aang expected the yellow green glow that had lit the world outside to become stronger but inside the tree remained nearly dark. Hauling himself up onto the highest bough that looked capable of bearing his weight, Aang glanced up to see a translucent shield encapsulating the twisted branches, and swirling faintly with the electric blue power of the Avatar State. His forbearers were striving to contain Koh while they battled; the face stealer would gain no outside help and he would not be able to retreat.

Which meant there was nowhere else for _him_ to run either, Aang realized just in time to leap into the air and flip himself backwards, narrowly avoiding the swipe of Koh's legs as his tail segments came whipping through the air to wrap around the branch, the rest of the Face Stealer's body crawling up after it.

Aang stepped carefully forwards trying to keep his stance balanced as he spun his glider staff out in twisting circles which served as both defense and attack against the attacking legs. Gaining some space to stand, he bent and pressed the force of his whole body and chi behind a stabbing strike that punched a hole through the chitin armour, deep into Koh's side. The beast hissed in pain and began to slip from his perch for a moment. The branch shook with impact as several pairs of strong, furred legs slammed into the wood behind Aang and he spun around just as Koh's grinning mask appeared, coiling the whole of his sinuous form onto the bough like a snake.

Shifting his weight onto his back leg, Aang slid his front foot back and used it to brace himself as he brought the staff up and over his head to block Koh's striking forcipules, uncoiling like a spring to bring it down over the face stealers head in a stunning blow. Pressing his advantage Aang swept his staff up again, but before he could leap forward to bring it smashing down, Koh's longer hind legs lashed out, hitting Aang with bruising force low across his achillies tendons and the back of his knees and making him crumple.

Koh was on him faster than a thought, one great blinding rush of movement, bowling Aang over onto his back against the knotted wood. Aang swung his staff in a wild arc, putting all the force he could muster behind the blow. The weapon connected hard, snapping off the Face Stealer's left forcipule with a sickening crack. Koh let out an unearthly screech, reeled back and slammed his body down, snapping Aang's staff like a twig. "_Avatar!_" The scream became a roar and Koh drove his spiked upper maxillae through the meat of Aang's shoulder, pinning him to the branch. Pain robbed Aang of his voice, turned his world white hot with agony and it was only dimly that he could hear Koh speaking to him.

"Such an exquisite expression," He almost whispered, his smooth voice hoarse with pain, masked face close enough to touch. "If only your past incarnations would stick to the rules and stop shielding you, I could take it right now. You Avatars never play fair," Aang fought back a whimper as glistening black venom from the broken pincer dripped onto his wound. "I'll just have to take it once you're dead. This one is far too good to go to waste. All happiness seems to look rather the same, but agony," Koh rolled the word around as though it was something delicious to be savoured. "You humans bring so much _variety_ to suffering.

"Happy to –_ ah_ – share the wealth," Aang panted. Drawing harder on the power that buoyed him up, Aang twisted, ignoring the fiery throb of his shoulder and kicking up to shove Koh backwards, putting just enough space between them that he could thrust the splintered end of his staff up like a spear right through the Face Stealer's eye.

Aang bent his knees higher and kicked again as Koh reeled back, flipping the great beast over and tearing free of the barbed appendage impaling him. Koh retreated, convulsing and drawing the length of his segmented body up to twine around the bough as Aang staggered to his feet, clutching his wounded shoulder and stepping closer to the walls of the tree.

He could feel the power rising from the below, Koh had lived for years in this place, sinking his strength into every twist of root and shard of stone and it came now, spiralling up to it's master. Aang grit his teeth against the pain and pushed himself off the wood of the inner trunk that he had sagged against, letting the chi of the Avatar fill him once more.

Koh seemed to grow in size, his form swelling and darkening, the lightning snap aura of power almost visible in the air as it expanded – and then snapped like a lute string.

"NO!" The roared denial made the whole world shake and writhe, the rising energy shattered and drifting. Koh whipped around towards him once more, but this time Ummi's face looked back; her right eye socket empty and weeping blood, a jagged crack running from her forehead to chin and her expression twisted in anguish.

"Your lost love reneged on her bargain Avatar!" Koh's mask was turned upwards, voice coming through shouted and oddly crazed, despite the fact that Ummi's mouth was open around an unheard scream. Aang felt something wrench inside him and the flow of power stuttered and stopped leaving him bereft and alone, barely able to stand. The barrier outside the tree wavered for an instant before reasserting itself. "I've had her all this time Kuruk, watching you scrabble around in the mists. You can _never _have her back!" Ummi's face vanished, the rippling dark curtain of her hair reforming the noh mask Aang knew so well and the Face Stealer's attention snapped back to him.

The Noh had the same missing eye and pitted fissures as Ummi's face, but the painted smile remained. "I'll have your earthbender too. I'll have every last one after her!"

Ignoring the burn of his shoulder, Aang centered his stance and reformed his staff, bringing it up again with both hands. His chi remained, even if there was no true air here to obey his command, his body retained the same power that it possessed in waking life; the memory of ten thousand hours repeating basic forms. The simple strikes and blocks that were more about using his staff than ruling the currents with it.

Like the tree they fought through, his feet were rooted, his trunk strong letting him direct all his energy through his arms and hands and the weapon that was an extension of both. Spinning his staff over his head to increase its acceleration, Aang pushed the mass of his whole body behind it and brought the wood down on the straining branch below them both, yanking down the shield outside and channelling its power into the blow.

In one decisive line between Aang and Koh the branch snapped. The half second look of surprise was the closest he had come to seeing a genuine expression on the Face Stealer before Koh plummeted, driven to earth by a force stronger than gravity.

The massive insect twitched feebly on the ground far below, attempting to shift and rise on broken legs and from the shadows of the unblocked tunnel entrance stepped Kuruk. The water tribe Avatar stared impassively down at Koh, though Aang could see him flinch as Ummi's broken face appeared. "For almost five hundred years I have hunted you Face Stealer. This ends today."

Koh's laughter was hoarse; his voice rasping like sandpaper. "It won't bring her back to you."

"I know."

Kuruk's long, bladed spear flashed twice in the half light, severing Koh's head from his body and then plunging down through his masked face.

The world around them grew lighter with the sound of victorious laughter.

* * *

Toph felt as though someone was stirring her mind with a hot poker.

Koh's touch burned like fire, like acid, she had no doubt that if she could have controlled her own lungs she would have been screaming. Still she hung on to her shredding sense of self in a death grip more reflex than voluntary stubbornness. Shoving at his presence encroaching on her mind the way she should have pushed Ummi out, listening to the voice of the water tribe woman trying to sooth her through her own death.

_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry._

_Why?_ Toph gritted out, rage and pain making it hard to speak clearly even within her own head.

_I need to, I have to be free. _

_But he's going to – the damage, people will die! _

_If you're trapped in a good spirit's prison with something evil, and the evil wants out, who's really the cruel one? _Ummi demanded darkly._ Who is truly in the wrong?_

_You are!_

Toph lost the ability to think as she fought against the next assault on her shaky mental defenses; her inner self screaming and kicking, wrecked with the effort required to simply withstand. The razors in her brain drew back slightly but not completely as Koh's malevolence circled her like prey, looking for a gap to force his way in and crack her open.

_So now you go skipping away while the world burns? _

_I didn't start this!_

_No,_ Even Toph's mental voice sounded like she was panting with agony. _You'll just end it. The whole world for your happiness. _

_I don't care! I don't – I just want Kuruk back!_

"Little Ummi has her wish, I have released her," Koh's voice drove into her mind like spikes and this time Ummi howled along with Toph at the searing pain of it. "She's part of you now. Completely."

"No! You promised me you'd let me go to him!"

"And so you can, if you wish it. Flee the earthbender now Ummi and return to your lost love."

"But," A horrible sort of understanding crept into Ummi's voice. "Without a physical anchor to the world I'll be destroyed."

"I'm no longer bound to Enma," Koh said, a mocking parody of consternation. "I cannot set you back along the wheel, Ummi. Your body is dead and I am taking this one."

Ummi's wail of despair and rage was so all consuming it swept away every other thought, deafening Toph even to the pain of Koh splitting her open. And when it ended Toph's flimsy barriers were strong shields and Ummi was speaking in her voice.

"No," She shouted. "No. I wanted only one thing from you Face Stealer. One thing! And if I am to be cast into the void, then as the spirits stand witness, you are coming with me!"

Toph's mind lit up with a feeling like cool water and the sound of a tidal wave, sensation and awareness rushed backing into her limbs as her thoughts expanded along every muscle and tendon; stretching to fill the space that was once again hers and hers alone.

_Don't show any emotion, you cannot let him take your face._ Ummi was fading, weak to the point of a whisper as her life force poured into Toph's defenses.

_Thank You. _

_I'll hold on as long as I can. __Good luck._

* * *

_A/N - Okay I lied, it was an irritable monkey. _

_PS to Anony-mouse (who should sign reviews so I can reply) Ahriman is the Middle-Persian version of Angra Mainyu who brings about the end of the world in Zoroastrianism - At least that's what my cursory research said. But now that you've told me about it I really want to play the new Prince of Persia._


	16. Amantes Sunt Amentes

**XVI. Amantes Sunt Amentes**

* * *

Toph regained the use of her limbs with a jolt like being struck by lightning.

She staggered for a moment, gasping awkwardly as her lungs overcompensated for the time they had been beyond her conscious control and reached forward to steady herself against the twisted statue that now hung mostly free of its chains. Calming her breathing, she fought her racing heartbeat back to steadiness and eased her pack off her shoulders to the ground. Since she couldn't directly affect the strange, spirit touched stone of the statue, the best course of action would be to bury it so deeply that it could never again be found. She stepped back slightly, readjusting her stance for a better bending position when the rock shifted under her fingers.

Toph jerked away, tangling an ankle in the straps of her rucksack and falling awkwardly to the ground. Contact with the stone floor sharpened her perceptions far enough that she could sense the statue easing itself open, as though it was becoming unsealed. The twisted torso cracked smoothly down the center, releasing a gust of air so fetid that Toph had to clamp a hand over her mouth and nose in an effort not to retch as someone stepped out of the idol's hollow core.

It shuffled forward weakly, feet dragging heavily along the ground and Toph amended her descriptor from someone to some_thing_. The figure held the form of a man, but the vibrations it sent back at her were all wrong. Half the person's ribcage was missing - the bones ending abruptly into nothing low on the right side - and its left leg was more pulp than limb from the knee down. How this ... _thing _could even be standing was beyond her.

"Blasted dirt bitch!" The voice sawed out of shredded vocal cords, yet was unmistakably Koh's. "Do you have any idea how much power it takes to reform a body?"

His jaw wasn't moving as he spoke, and it took Toph a moment to realize that it was because the lower portion was almost entirely detached, hanging loose from the remains of skin and sinew and knocking slightly against the man's collarbone. Toph clamped down on her growing sense of unease as she noticed Koh's hands cradle the joint and shift it back into place with a pulse of something that Toph could feel crackle through the air and against her skin. Even without the blue glow Ummi had added to her vision she understood the sensation of spirit energy. "I'd forgotten how small you feel." Koh seemed unconcerned with her presence, focused on the slow regeneration of his own body.

Snapping back to herself, Toph surged forward, swinging one arm up as she regained her feet and bringing a ridge of earth with her, blasting towards Koh's weakened form. He snapped out an arm, his palm open at least a foot from her chest. There was a half instant charge of that crackling power and Toph flew backwards to hit the far wall with enough force to crack the carved slabs.

She fell in a heap, coughing weakly. "Energybending has fallen out of use here hasn't it? Or did you think it was just useful for stealing your lesser abilities?" Koh stepped towards her, hale and hearty once more, the resonance of a tall man, the gait of someone confident in more than just their power. "It would have been so much easier to just take your shell. Mortality is such a setback and watching the Avatar's face when his beloved tore his heart out through his sternum would have been so utterly satisfying."

Toph felt herself lifted bodily from the floor by that same crackling energy. Desperately she sunk her hands to the wrists into the stone below her. The slab buckled and tried to lift along with the rest of her and Toph felt her arms stretched to the snapping point. With a strangled noise of pain and frustration she relinquished her hold on the rock, using her upward momentum to sling the earth hard towards Koh.

She heard the crack of them striking home distantly over the jarring impact of her own body pinned high against the opposite wall. Koh's control slipped at the hit and she dropped a few inches before he regained the concentration to pin her again. Toph spread her palms out over the wall and tried to track his movements.

Koh slowly reached up to touch at his own chest with a wet sound and a pained hiss and Toph realized she'd wounded him. He shifted, testing the way the new injury altered his range of movement, but his left arm remained up, his power pressing her harder against the wall. "I'd forgotten what it felt like to bleed," Koh said absently. "This won't do at all. Stay." He ordered, dragging her forward and back, Toph's head cracked against the stone and her head burst with pain. When her senses scraped themselves back together she had slid down the wall, on her feet but only barely. Koh had stepped back to the statue that had formed his coffin; he rubbed his palms together as though in anticipation before thrusting both hands forward into the strange idol. The sculpture began to drip and flow like wax, sliding across Koh's arms, and coating his skin. The glassy textured, spirit-tempered stone bubbled and swelled across the Face Stealer's shoulders, stretching into ropelike shapes that engulfed his neck and bare chest. Twisted protuberances grew out of the knobs of his spine and built up like armour over his legs.

Humming in satisfaction, Koh backed away, leaving the last span of the unearthly substance stretched out into nothing. He reached out and snapped it free of the molten remains of the statue, gripping the less jagged side as though the sharp edged piece were a sword. Sharply, he drew the blade of the makeshift weapon across his opposite arm. There was a shriek like tearing metal, yet not a hint of the wet slide of slicing meat.

"Much better."

"You do realize," Toph couldn't draw enough breath to finish the sentence without a searing pain clamping down like a vice, and she wondered distractedly if her ribs were broken. "That you're fighting an earthbender and you just turned yourself to stone."

"I think the term 'fighting' is a little optimistic, don't you?" Koh blasted another wave of power towards her, but with the rock-like substance coating him, Toph could read his movements much more clearly and she managed to throw herself out of harm's way, reaching out to take control of Koh's new body and pulling her arms back to rip it apart with her power.

There was no response from the twisted carapace. Her bending slid off of the spirit power that radiated through the stone and metal as though she were trying to manipulate water. Koh tilted his head back and laughed. "You're more foolish than I thought girl! Did you really think a prison forged by death himself, which could last for millennia as the city around it crumbled, could be torn apart by _earthbending_?"

Rather than answer, Toph twisted her feet, siding her heel across the ground and making the floor drop out from underneath Koh but he simply stepped away and she realized he was forming a bridge from his own energy. The instant he touched solid ground, Koh leapt for her, his weapon coming down in an arc to cleave her head from her shoulders. Toph dropped, sinking herself into the stone and blasting back up behind him. Pivoting in place she braced her left palm against her opposite fist and drove her right elbow hard into the sciatic nerve to the side of his spine.

Koh's knee buckled and he struck backwards wildly; his flailing blow caught Toph in the head with enough force to send her flying back across the room, skidding to a stop near the remains of his statue. She bit down on the inside of her cheek to stop herself grimacing in pain and felt the floor vibrate as Koh stalked closer. "You're being awfully stingy with your expressions little one." He slammed the sword of broken rock into the ground millimetres from her ear; the shock of it enough to make her gasp if Toph hadn't felt it coming. "Come on, give us a smile."

"I like my face," She gritted. "You can't have it."

Koh laughed, the sound twisted and wet through his ridged stone throat. "Do you know why they call me the face stealer?" He ducked close to her, crouching like an animal of prey. "It's not my spirit name; I had that appellation long before my mortal death. When you take a person's bending there's an energy bleedover and bits of them slide through, faces and places, emotions and memories come attached to the power no matter how careful you are to leave the life force of that person intact. You remember all those stolen moments running around in your head when the Avatar poured the power of the Fire Lord into you, do you not? After all, that was how I found you."

He lifted the stone sword, dragging it across Toph's cheek and down her chest with enough force to draw a thin line of blood in its wake and she scrabbled backwards, coming up against her rucksack where it had spilled out across the ground.

"You remember how good it felt to be so strong, all that pilfered strength pounding through your veins. But who wants to stop there when I could have it all? Your mind, your memories; it all takes energy, and that energy is so much more delicious, salt sad and spicy with desires. And your expressions give it all away; smiling and screaming and crying, you're pushing your energy outwards for everyone to share and I'll take it. I'll devour everything you are and steal your face away.

"Ah," Toph spat blood, reaching slowly into her pack. "I think this might be another situation where you seeing people are at a disadvantage." She rolled herself backwards, just in time to miss the blast of power Koh launched at her, and clutched the Noh mask to her face. Rising, she yanked the cords into a sloppy knot and let the cool porcelain suppress her grin of triumph. "Can you see the face I'm making now?"

She gestured and a trio of spikes rose from the floor. Koh knocked down the first and smoothly sidestepped the second, but the third caught him hard in the midsection and sent him flying backwards with a grunt of pain. "How much power did it take to build that fine new body, Insect? Huh? If you can't sap away my strength and there's no one else here. How much have you got left?" She twisted and rock squeezed in around him, two angled slabs pressing with crushing force to either side. "Because I guarantee it won't be enough to take me down."

The slabs were already cracking, but Toph didn't waste time trying to break Koh's rock shell. Instead she dashed to the first of the heavy rings set into the walls, and began to uncoil the diamond chain from around her waist. It was nearly twelve feet long now, but that still didn't leave very much slack once the finished end had been sunk deep into the metal ring and wrapped around to ensure it's hold. She swung it experimentally and savoured the sound the slender chain made as it cut through the air, the fist sized lump of coal dangling from the end like a flail.

She spun it up and over her head as Koh burst from the makeshift cage and rushed at her, catching him once across the face before he realized what she was doing. He ducked the next blow, sending the striking chain off course with a burst of energy and forcing Toph to change the angle of her swings from horizontal to vertical, closer to her body. The weapon's arc kept Koh from getting too close as she stepped further out and towards him. Koh attempted to retreat beyond her limited reach but Toph sent the flail striking out over and over, forcing him to dodge and then shift left, circling her until he had his back to the wall in which the metal rings were set.

Crouching under another burst of energy, she dropped to her knees and shoved the ground beneath Koh's feet upwards, forcing him to shift to the side just as she hurled the chain outwards. The end of her makeshift rentsuru caught him in the throat and Koh staggered backwards, pushed closer to the wall by the boulder Toph propelled at him in the same motion. She swirled the weapon over her head once more, making the gesture showy enough that Koh could easily guess when the strike was coming and sent it flying straight towards him. The face stealer ducked it neatly, but Toph reached out with her earthbending and yanked the coal finial back towards herself, wrapping the chain twice around Koh's body and trapping his arms at his sides as the lump of carbon sailed home into her palm.

Toph abandoned the middle of the chain as Koh began to twist, seizing the rough end in both hands and pulling as hard as she could. The face stealer reeled back but she twisted the slack under one elbow and then the other, using her whole body to tighten the restraints and bring them close enough that she could have spat in his face. Instead she braced her right hand on his shoulder and shoved, sweeping her leg in an arc to knock both Koh's knees out from under him.

The short length of chain between them dragged Toph to the floor as well. She lashed out messily at his face as they landed and was rewarded with a satisfying snap as her forearm impacted the bottom of Koh's chin; scrambling upwards to throw herself on his flailing legs and wrap the last few feet of the diamond filament around his calves and ankles. Koh screamed at her, enough power manifesting in the sound to send Toph flying across the stone floor, grinding at her mask and earning her a long burning scrape along one arm. She jerked to her knees as Koh began to kick off his bindings and stretched out her hands, seizing the chain and sinking the end of it into the second metal ring set further down the wall.

Toph staggered to her feet, letting her earthbending senses run the length of the cable that bound the vicious abomination, twisting the diamond links harder into the metal and the rings harder into the stone wall. Koh inhaled deeply and opened his mouth, but Toph was faster, fastening an earth cuff over his face before he could unleash any more power at her.

Slowly she reached up and unlaced the ties that bound her mask, stepping close enough to place it carefully over Koh's face. "I was told this face belongs to you," She said, fastening the laces in a tight knot despite his twisting, before stepping back to center herself. "You'll forgive me if I don't want to hear your last words. I think your talking has done enough damage."

"Besides," She called, raising her voice as she stepped down the short hallway back to the catacombs. "I'm going to let you live. Safe and in peace right here for as long as you last." Toph sank her power into the stones of the temple around them, feeling out every weakness time had carved, every fault line created by wind and weather. Sensing just where to push and bring the whole thing crashing down. "Don't spend your energy too quickly." Toph advised, sensing the way Koh was thrashing at his bonds. "If I were you I'd want to keep myself alive as long as possible. There are probably a few people in the spirit world who'd like a word with you."

Toph lifted both arms slowly, spreading them outwards as though to encompass not just the catacombs, but the whole ruined complex, and twisted both wrists to bring her palms sharply downwards. The sound of Koh's muffled screaming was swallowed up by the rush of earth and water as the temple began to crumble in on itself.

"Enjoy your freedom Koh. Tell them the Melon Lord sent you."

With a nonchalant flick of her hand Toph formed a pillar beneath her feet and rode the shockwave all the way to the surface.

* * *

Aang came awake to the world around him trembling with the force of an earthquake. He had just enough time to blast his way out of the small earth tent around his body before Toph came flying out of the temple, chased by a thundering crash of earth and water. She somersaulted backwards, skidding a few feet across the mossy flagstones before coming to a halt stretched out on the ground near the alter.

She was covered in mud and blood and the red marks that would soon become vicious bruises and she was gasping for air.

"Toph!" He leapt off the slab towards her. "Are you alright? Where are you hurt?""

"Shu's _balls_!" She let out a short violent sound that Aang could only vaguely recognize as a laugh. "Earth, Twinkletoes I could kiss you right now," Toph hooked one ankle behind his knee and dragged him down to the ground with her, utterly ignoring his attempts to make sure nothing on her body was broken. "Come on, come here."

She was trembling as she wrapped one arm around his neck and planted a hard, sucking kiss to his temple with enough force to bruise.

"Hey!" He protested weakly, trying to escape her hold and check the cuts on her face.

"You magnificent idiot! I cannot believe you left me all alone with that thing. I don't even want to know – I mean I do, of course I do, but _spirits_!" She exclaimed and punched him with all her remaining strength across the chest as they lay side by side. Toph's hand remained over his heartbeat for a moment before she fisted it into his tunic and dragged him back over to kiss again, properly this time but every bit as forcefully as before. She pushed back almost immediately, still breathing too heavily for a long embrace, the excess of adrenaline making her shaky.

"Don't get all mushy on me, Twinkletoes; I can practically _feel _the smitten rolling off you."

Aang was fairly sure his face was bright red by now but relief made him bold enough to whisper, "I think that's you," against her lips before catching her up so that they were touching shoulder to hip and he could lean close and kiss her, messy and frenzied.

"Wait," She pulled back abruptly, shoving him down till he was pressed against the ground and running her sensitive fingertips everywhere she could reach. "You're alright? Koh made it sound like – you're not hurt?"

Aang sat up on his elbows, running his lips lightly up the lines of Toph's throat so she could feel him smile. "One of the perks of fighting in the spirit world," he paused to mouth at the line of her jaw, the corner of her lips. "You come back whole or not at all."

Toph stopped him pressing a soft, sweet kiss against his lower lip. "I don't think that qualifies as a perk."

"Avatar." The voice swirled in his head, pompous and irritated. Aang dropped his forehead against Toph's collarbone with a frustrated groan.

"Air and _stone_!" She swore. "What now?"

He raised his chin to look at her in surprise. "You heard that?"

"The earthbending child deserves to hear as well." Enma appeared, comfortably perched in lotus on the rock strewn alter slab, looking more corporeal than most spirits did in the physical world.

Beneath Aang, Toph laughed a little. "Was one of your past lives a talking monkey? Because that explains a lot."

"Toph this is Enma, Lord of the Dead," He shifted off her awkwardly, but Toph seemed utterly unconcerned by their slightly compromising position.

"You were the one who bound Koh?" She didn't wait for an answer to the question. "Well, where in Oma's name have _you_ been?"

"I assumed the situation was within Avatar Aang's ability to handle," The baboon raised a ferociously disapproving eyebrow. "Koh's last attempt at freedom was neatly thwarted by Avatar…. What was his name, you change so quickly. No matter, it was dealt with and my attention became focused elsewhere."

"For nine hundred years?"

"Do not presume to understand the workings of the spirits mortal child, I am more than you could hope to comprehend."

"More of an idiot, maybe." Toph snorted under her breath. Aang poked her in the side, but she simply elbowed him back twice as hard and kept her attention on Enma.

"Now what happens to the people Koh had trapped, do they all just move along?"

"It is not a matter of freedom or entrapment. Koh was intended to serve a necessary purpose. All souls must go into the next world clean. But his crimes were not a matter of years or decades of reflection and penance, but centuries. So I bound him to that form, to that realm, and when more like him, the worst of transgressors, were born to the race of men, I made Koh their jailer in the hopes that it would teach him compassion; to act as both prison and prisoner," There was the slightest tinge of embarrassment on Emna's face. "It seems that I might have… miscalculated, giving him so much autonomy in the end was unwise."

Toph made a noise like a boiling kettle and Aang spoke before she had the chance to further insult a spirit with power over life and death. "Why don't you just do it yourself?"

"I am the god of death boy! My responsibilities are already complex and numerous." Enma glared at them, full of indignation that Toph didn't seem to notice. He huffed, smoothing at his fur imperiously. "Where is the one who sought to free Koh through such dishonest means?"

Beside him, Toph bit her lip and closed her eyes, calling out to the woman in her head.

"She's gone," Toph's face fell and she drew her knees up to her chest. "Ummi gave all her strength to help me defeat Koh. I can't hear her anymore, there's nothing left. "

Aang pressed a hand to her lower back in sympathy and even Enma's sharp countenance seemed to soften for a moment. "A soul cannot be destroyed so easily. She was given to be part of you and you remain. The child is simply dormant, drained. But that can be remedied." He reached both hands out to the sides, circling them around as though gathering something invisible to his chest and pressed down and out with a loud breath.

The current of that breath danced, swirling across the ground to form a column of wind that dissipated into a tall woman with long dark hair.

"Ummi!"

For all that this whole thing had revolved around her, Aang had never really seen Ummi in the flesh. She was tall, probably almost Sokka's height, and she reminded him of Yue. They had the same full lips and sharp cheekbones, the same quiet sadness.

Ummi looked at Toph for a moment, her expression full of regret before she realized which spirit stood with them and fell instantly to her knees. "My lord!" She gasped. "I am so sorry."

"You sought to subvert the justice of the spirits to your own ends Ummi, daughter of Antrak."

"My lord I – "

"Silence girl. Your actions, while potentially _catastrophic_," Enma said the word slowly, as though to impress upon Ummi the weight of her guilt. "...were engendered from our own mistake. Avatar, come forward."

For a moment Aang thought Enma meant him and wondered what help he could possibly offer, but Ummi interrupted him with a name that fell from her lips like a prayer. "Kuruk!"

The former Avatar stepped into being from thin air looking halfway to bewildered before his eyes lit upon her. His spear dropped to the ground and dissipated into mist without a clatter as Kuruk took three steps forward and yanked Ummi close, one hand tight around her waist, the other coming up to cradle the back of her neck with a tenderness that belied the forceful gesture.

"Ummi," He whispered, as though he couldn't quite believe it. "My love – you're here. Ocean below, Ummi."

A tremble so violent it was visible ran through her and Ummi buried her face in his neck. "I thought I would never – I was gone."

Kuruk touched her cheek, pulling her gently up to look at him and running his fingertips lightly across her face, palpably tender.

"I'm sorry," Enma's voice and face were utterly impassive when Aang's attention slipped back to the Lord of Death. "But that is not all."

The lost lovers separated, but their hands remained entwined, and Aang could not help but reach out to Toph, finding her doing the same without so much as a look in his direction.

"You have done ill, Ummi. However grievous our failings, your actions were Unjust and you may not move forward on the wheel until they are paid for. Koh's post stands vacant and must be filled. You will take his place and be my punisher until you have atoned and one who has been touched by you has been taught enough of mercy to free you in return."

"But there's nothing left of my body. I drowned? Didn't I?" Ummi looked at Kuruk, bewildered. "I remember water…"

Kuruk looked abashed. "I found you – dove after you. The elders, they wanted to send you back to the sea. But I was sure, so sure I could save you," he ran his thumb across Ummi's brow. "Your body is interred at the spirit oasis. Where we … we would have been married. I just, I couldn't let you go."

"It is not so important that anything physical remain," Enma interrupted. "But I can fix your binding there; it is as good a place as any and is likely to be preserved for at least until your sentence is complete." The primate's expression turned even more irritable. "And by the earth's turning will you please _remember_ that this time? No punishment is intended to last forever."

Ummi bit her lip, turning back towards her husband, but unable to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry my love."

"I'll wait for you," Kuruk said emphatically, cupping her jaw to make her look at him. "However long it takes, I'll wait. I know that you're safe now and we'll be together soon."

"Or you could simply stay with her until you are called Avatar!" Enma threw up his hands, abandoning all pretence of detached impassivity. "Honestly you humans make everything so dramatic. I am sure that your scion will not insist on your presence often."

The look Kuruk turned on him promised that he would never again have a private moment if he said no and Aang couldn't help but laugh. "I'll manage without you somehow." The sour face didn't disappear entirely, but Ummi was practically vibrating with joy and rather ruined the menacing effect.

"Thank you," She said, bowing first at Aang and then even more deeply at Toph. "Thank you both, I don't deserve it."

"Be happy." Toph said, a smile dancing in the corner of her mouth.

A sharp cough brought their attention back to Enma, who looked as though he'd had quite enough of the mortal world. The monkey jerked his head and Kuruk reluctantly dropped his wife's hand. "Do you accept this judgement?" The question was a formality but Ummi answered it anyway, her voice clear and full of conviction.

"I do."

"Very well. You may not leave Koh's former realm, daughter of the ocean. Nor may you neglect the duty you are bound to. For this task you are granted the strength and powers of a guardian spirit. May you judge fairly and be merciful in your punishments." He began to fade out at the last word, Ummi and Kuruk dissipating along with them and Aang turned back to Toph as she collapsed back into a prone position on the ground.

"Well?" He grinned at her.

"You may have to carry me out of this earth forsaken swamp Twinkletoes, I don't think my legs work anymore."

"Come on Toph."

"And I've lost my pack, which had all my food and money in it so I hope you brought Appa."

"Toph!"

"What?" She groused, as she clambered to her feet, using the alter to support her shaky legs.

Aang bounded up after her. "You said you couldn't tell you loved me until Ummi was gone from your head."

"So?"

"So aren't you going to tell me now?"

The smirk that quirked her lips told him she'd known exactly what he was asking, but Toph wiped it quickly away, affecting utter nonchalance. "Well we'll have to see, won't we Twinkletoes? I mean that's not the kind of thing you can go around saying to just anyone."

Aang caught her around the waist. "Not even if someone will come rushing halfway around the world to make sure you were okay?" Toph hissed when his arm brushed her ribs and Aang was quick to draw back, spinning her in his embrace to run a hand, feather light over the injury. She shook her head, but let him continue his inventory of her body.

"Not even if they saved your life?"

Toph made a soft sound of denial, but she was smiling as he trailed his fingers up her arms to sooth a thumb over the long cut across her collarbones.

"How about if they love you too?"

She hummed, the sound vibrating through her under his hands. "That might do it."

Aang kissed the space between her brows, and then touched their foreheads together; bringing them close enough that their breath mingled. "I love you Toph."

"I love you too, Aang," She promised softly. "Only and always."

* * *

_A/N - You didn't really think I'd stick Ummi with such an ignominious end did you? Big thanks to those who left reviews on the last chapter, always a joy to hear from you!_

_Next time - Fire Nation!_


	17. Damocles' Sword

**XVII. Damocles' Sword**

* * *

For someone who grew up as the crown prince of the most powerful and prosperous nation in the world, Zuko had eaten a lot of terrible meals. Unidentifiable slop full of weevils from the galley of the ship where he had spent his adolescence when they hadn't seen port in more than a month; Ostrich-horse oats and grass when he and Iroh had been too poor to afford anything else; Toph's cooking the time she had mistaken Southern Fire Nation chilli powder for sugar; he'd sat through interminable banquets and diplomatic visits where the royal couple had spent the evening threatening one another with increasingly creative and disturbing methods of execution; but he would have gladly sat through them all in succession to ensure that he never had to have another dinner as awkward as the one following Azula's return.

No one could cut you quite as deeply as those who knew you best. They were all smarting from the argument, wounded and exposed. Azula could not have engineered a stronger position for herself. Despite Katara and Sokka's instinctive physical defense of Suki the words between them were clearly not forgotten. Under normal circumstances they would have retreated to separate corners until everyone felt less raw, but if there was one uniting trait between them in all their strange unlikely histories it was that every one of them was stubborn as an ox-mule.

No one left and no one spoke.

Katara returned to her seat at Zuko's right hand, her spine ramrod straight and her table manners so impeccably 'fire nation' that Zuko knew she must have barely tasted her food around her focused concentration. Sokka ate too much, being deliberately rude and boorish, watching Azula pointedly. Suki ate quickly and deftly, the way a soldier would when expecting to be attacked at any moment, or a prisoner who was waiting for their food to be snatched away.

Azula ate as though she didn't quite realize she was doing it.

Zuko had always been a bit bewildered by his baby sister; her instinctive understanding of how to control people was mystifying to a boy who seemed to live with his foot perpetually in his mouth. It was a mark of just how much she had influenced all of them in such a short time, that her affect was engendered simply by proximity.

It was Ursa who broke the silence first, which shouldn't have surprised him, but did all the same. The last time he had been in the same room with his mother and his sister, he'd been eight years old.

"Azula are you…well?" Ursa offered haltingly. Her expression was as close to desperate as Zuko could ever remember seeing.

"Well?" Azula turned towards her with a flat stare. "Such a question, mother. You've never thought I was _well_ to begin with."

"My child, I only meant-"

"I am not your child."

"Azula,"

"There is no part of you in me!" Azula's composure splintered, her voice rising high and wild before she closed her eyes and inhaled sharply, regaining some of her equilibrium. "I am Ozai's daughter, scion of Azulon and Sozin, rightful heir to the dragon throne," The words sounded flat, rote as an oft repeated prayer.

Her attention shifted back to back to Zuko, tone turning to amusement. "And it seems my people remember it. I didn't expect such a parade of people to welcome me home, I must say. What do they think really happened, hmm brother?"

"The line of succession."

"Line of succession! Father named me Fire Lord. You were branded traitor and disowned; just because you were the first born-"

"And second born children seem to do so much better. Father was a megalomaniacal madman and you lost your mind before you could even be crowned!"

For a moment Azula looked torn between leaping across the table to murder him and as though she was almost capable of bursting into tears. "No one knows, Azula," He offered, feeling unaccountably guilty. "It was the right thing for the Fire Nation."

"The right thing for the Fire Nation would have been to put you down like the treacherous dog you are," She snapped, quickly recovering her composure. "The people believe, what? That I withdrew gracefully from the field? That we settled our differences with honour? And now a piece of water tribe trash has demanded my head," She mocked Sokka without bothering to so much as glance in his direction. "Which has brought influence crashing in from all corners of the world; changing our laws and our customs. And the Fire Lord does nothing. He capitulates to the murder of Agni's line. You always were pathetically weak, Zuko."

"Whatever these accusations, Azula," He tried not to rise to the bait she presented; the urge to defend his policies was almost unbearably strong. "You've only brought them on yourself."

She looked momentarily enraged but the expression vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "But how many people can you convince of that? How many can you defend your throne against, brother?" The threat in her voice was clear. "I almost don't care if this all ends with my head on the block. Watching you all scramble and snipe at each other is more entertainment than I've had in years," She grinned, sharklike, at Suki. "If this is the state of your kingdom Zuzu, I am going to have rather a lot of _fun_."

Zuko gestured minutely to the guards that flanked the doors, two members of Mai's elite Golden Shield joining the chi blockers and guards already arrayed around Azula.

"I wasn't finished eating." Coming from anyone else the statement would have been petulant but she somehow managed to make it sound utterly scathing.

"You will be held at the palace until your trial and will have no further contact with anyone not strictly approved by me and monitored by the Golden Shield. Attempt to escape, act in a seditious manner or otherwise make things difficult and I will have you removed to the Boiling Rock."

Azula laughed uproariously. "That place couldn't even hold_ you_ Zuzu. It's hardly much of a threat."

Zuko ignored her parting shot as Azula was led out, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment in an attempt to supress the migraine spreading like a spider web from his temples.

Suki stood before anyone could speak, so fast that her chair nearly went flying backwards and vanished through the hall doors, heading in the opposite direction. Sokka watched her go, but continued to pick at his food with an expression that was half dismayed, half mutinous.

Katara was looking at Zuko expectantly, but whatever she saw in his face when he met her eyes had her standing as well, with a nod and a sadly sympathetic expression which Zuko knew he flat out did not deserve.

Zuko adored that she could see the good man inside him, even when he could not, but there was no room to be that man here. He waited until Katara had vanished around the corner before speaking.

"Find Aang," Zuko turned to Mai, his voice sharp but hopefully not desperate. "Send out every messenger hawk in the eyrie if you have to but get him back here now. I need to know that if anything happens, I can keep her contained."

The words '_and alive' _were unspoken but clearly felt; next to him, Ursa flinched at the reminder that Zuko could not allow his sister to become a danger to the city. The chi blockers could contain her fire, but bending was not Azula's only skill and if she were able to overcome her guards and escape, it wouldn't be long before she could clear her chakras again. Aang had never spoken to him about the removal of Ozai's power and Zuko had been too uncomfortable to press the issue but he would now without hesitation. Aang's ability was the final sanction.

This trial was a farce. A cheap ploy to destabilize the already delicate balance that kept Zuko on the dragon throne and he would fight it in any way he could; and there was, there would always be, some small part of Zuko that wanted the family they should have been but as he turned to his mother and found her eyes wet but her face smooth and approving, he knew they both understood that his choice was not Zuko's, but the Fire Lord's made for his people and he would see Azula dead before he allowed her instability to put them all in jeopardy.

He stormed from the room, unwilling to continue being the focus of so many people's separate desires, taking a certain ridiculous satisfaction in the way his generally irritating official robes billowed out behind him as he walked. The dramatic exit was completely ruined by Sokka, who dropped into step half a pace behind him and to the left, too close and with too gormless an expression to look anything but the tagalong friend.

Zuko narrowed his eyes slightly but refused to turn and acknowledge him. Sokka just sped up so they were walking abreast, his face the very picture of insouciance. Zuko glowered fiercely and walked faster. Sokka kept pace and began to whistle.

"_What?"_ Zuko practically roared, rounding on the shorter man. "What do you want? Go _away!_"

Sokka looked at him as though Zuko was a sulky child throwing a sudden tantrum. "Whoa, I'm not doing anything."

Zuko poured a veritable ocean of sarcasm into his flat stare.

"Alright, alright ... you looked like you might need company."

"Really?"

"And," Sokka relented in the face of Zuko's deadpan response, throwing up his hands. "I figure I owe you a thank you."

"_Really?"_

"You kept your head in there. I didn't, and I couldn't have in your place. Thank you." The admission was still rather forced despite his reconciliatory tone. "Honestly I was expecting more of the angry jerk."

"I'm not like that anymore."

"Yeaaah you are," Sokka teased, but he backed off when Zuko's posture turned involuntarily defensive. "With us I mean. I don't see you be diplomatic Fire Lord Zuko very often. I guess, I'm sorry … that you had to be with us."

"It's important," Zuko said. "I need to show everyone that I'm more humble, more willing. Azula…. This whole thing, just reminds me that I'm always atoning."

Sokka snorted. "Don't give me that, you've never been humble. Even when you tried, you were still jumping up and down on our necks demanding forgiveness. Trying to be diplomatic isn't helping, you know. You're better off angry."

Zuko rolled his eyes and tried to step away, but Sokka just caught him by the elbow and yanked him into an alcove which overlooked the wide steps and white marble walls of the palace entrance. "Katara and I become irrational when we're angry; we make all kinds of mistakes. Being hotheaded isn't a trait that suits the watertribe. We become stronger under pressure. My sister would say something about our element, but I think it's just a matter of how we were brought up.

"Suki and Toph, they need a place to make a stand; an issue or a cause they can get behind, and you'll never budge them. Katara and I? We pull through when the water is up to your neck. But you? We could never stop you when you were angry Zuko. It might not be the source of your strength, but I've lost eyebrows that prove you never focus _better_ then when you want to burn away everything in your path."

"I'm not – I don't want to be like her."

Sokka shrugged. "Well then don't be. But it's the only way you're ever going to stop her." He shook his head, as though to clear it and gave a little half shrug. "There was a reason you were the right choice for Fire Lord, but you can't fight everyone and who you are."

Zuko growled in frustration, clapping both palms over his eyes. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't know, the White Lotus is always trying to tell me to be more mysterious with my advice." He slapped Zuko on the back hard enough to make the leaner man stumble forward slightly. "My point is, quit being an idiot and trying to please everyone when they're never gonna like you anyway."

Zuko glared at him. "Oh thanks."

"Hey, I'm just trying to be helpful. You know all these nobles and politians are just going to keep playing off you and one another and Azula; they don't care about what it might mean for your people," Sokka shifted to lean against the window well and look out across the city below. "What is it you want to be known for?"

Zuko could hear Ozai's voice in his head, his father's dark laughter as he told Zuko over and over that he would never measure up against his forefathers. That his desire for peace made him weak and that he would fail his people. "You think I should – "

"This is your decision." Sokka interrupted. "As far as I can see you're just caught between the wolves and the water."

"The White Lotus doesn't have any sayings on impossible choices?"

"They've only taught me up to cryptic suggestions. I have to grow a beard before I get to sage wisdom." Sokka stroked his chin as though smoothing imaginary facial hair." Apparently my Wang Fire beard doesn't count."

"That is still the worst Fire Nation name I have ever heard."

"Fooled your people."

"We're taught to be kind to the mentally afflicted." He took a deep breath before he could continue, but Zuko felt he had to say the words out loud, to know that someone understood. "I'm going to have to become him aren't I? My father." The idea was like a physical blow

Sokka seemed unfazed, as though the idea of tapping into his father's dark legacy meant nothing at all. "Hopefully not; I like fighting beside you much more then fighting against you. But in some cases – in _this _case," He amended. "Maybe they need to remember that most of them have spent their lives fearing your country."

* * *

Suki turned away from Zuko's groaning, overdramatic dance of frustration before he caught sight of her, retreating in down the hallway in the opposite direction of Sokka, back towards the great hall, faintly amused, but not enough to lift her spirits.

The open chamber was mostly dark – she would never understand why the architects of the palace had been so adverse to the concept of windows, considering the tropical climate – and she slipped between the shadows easily. The dark coolness of the place soothed her and Suki was tempted to just crumple down one of the many pillars and cry until she felt purged of all her anger and frustration.

If she had been home, safe among her sisters on Kyoshi, she might have walked the edges of the surf until the salt on her face could have been only sea spray and everything felt clear again, but lost as a splash of subtle green against the Fire Nations angry, unrelenting reds it was a weakness she could not allow herself. She had shed enough helpless tears in this place.

She rocked back and forth on her heels and felt the hilt of a knife dig into her calf. There were three secreted on her person, along with the fans that sat heavy on her belt, she'd begun to liberate them from the table when Azula first appeared, immediately considering that her enemy would expect a Kyoshi warrior to attack with iron fans first and calculating the best throwing angle to prevent any of the bodyguards surrounding the princess from taking the hit.

It wasn't right, Suki knew, to kill Azula over dinner, while weakened and vulnerable. Neither was it honourable or politically expedient, but she wanted it. She wanted it badly enough to almost feel the hot spray of arterial blood across her face if only to silence that sweetly crooning voice in her head.

_My greatest work,_ Azula had said to her over and over as Suki bled and burned and screamed, delirious with pain. _I'll make you so much stronger. _

She slammed a fist into the pillar beside her, hard enough that her knuckles popped with the force and banished the voice from her mind.

Suki had hurried out of the dining room to watch the guards take Azula away, had traced their steps and walked the hallways around the chamber the princess had been imprisoned in – interior, windowless and far from the royal family's wing; a place intended for nobles who were really hostages ensuring the good behaviour of their clans – still caught between checking for weaknesses where Azula might escape and looking for a way in to slit the woman's throat herself.

The room was impenetrable, which should have been reassuring, but only made Suki angrier; the sharp smell of burning flesh acrid in her nose, the sound of her warriors crying in the dark echoing in her ears. But she was caught, enraged, on the hook of due process. Bound to wait until a group of people with their own agenda decided when exactly she and her sisters had been damaged enough.

Suki was startled out of her furious contemplation at the sensation of hair rising on the back of her neck and the near inaudible footfalls of someone approaching from behind her. Whoever it was had entered silently and was doing his utmost to remain undetected as he crept closer.

She dropped the second blade into her hand from where it was hidden up one sleeve and snapped it against the man's jugular before he could speak.

"It's not polite to spy." Suki reproached him.

The man held up his hand slowly and Suki circled him without taking the edge of her knife from his neck. He was richly dressed, swathed in heavy brocade and an embroidered sash that Suki was sure meant something official, his dark hair was silver at the temples but he wore the sign of age well. "I only wanted the chance to speak to you, my lady."

"Commander," She corrected, but she lowered the weapon and tucked it into the back of her waistband.

"Commander Suki," The man nodded. "Of the unparalleled Kyoshi Warriors. I am Consul Tai Kahn." He offered an overly deep bow.

"You called for Azula's execution."

Tai Kahn nodded, without a trace of embarrassment. "I did. On your behalf and the behalf of the whole Fire Nation."

"This nation loves their princess." Keeping any inflection out of the statement was more difficult than Suki had expected, but she was not about to offer this random man any real opinions he could use against her. She might not have grown up among backstabbing vipers and court politics, but she had been raised to trust no one for longer than it would take to throw them to the Unagi.

"Because they do not really know anything about her," Tai Khan said, seeming completely at ease in the half darkness, under Suki's suspicious glare. "The truth about the princess's cruelty should have come out when Ozai fell; it was a disservice to the people that they were kept in the dark. To be praising a murderer like her, it's disgusting."

"Zuko did what he thought was best."

"Of course, anyone can see that the Fire Lord loves his country. But he was only a boy when he took the throne and many disagreed with his policies. He was open to…influences."

"People who want the throne for themselves." She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the pillar to her left.

"Or those who simply wanted a monarch who would continue the established pattern. Public opinion of Azula muddies the line of succession. If something were to happen to the Fire Lord, many would believe that she was rightful heir to the throne." Tai Kahn stepped around her to gesture at the unoccupied throne which sat at the far end of the room, imposing in its own right, even without the wreath of flame.

"You think that his advisors convinced Zuko to leave Azula out of prison and not to ruin her reputation so that they could put her up as Fire Lord if he doesn't do what they want."

"It is a risk this nation can ill afford."

"But why now, after so long?" Suki mused. "It's been almost five years since Zuko took the throne."

"But now the Fire Lord has found himself a bride; A foreign one no less. The lady Katara is compassionate and powerful, there is no question that they love one another and that their marriage will strengthen a tie between two countries who have a history of animosity beyond even the war. But she's not the most popular choice for a Fire Lady, and once they are married, once they have children the opportunity to place Azula on the throne without contention will have passed."

"You're in favour of Katara?" Suki couldn't help but be a little taken aback. Tai Kahn smirked as though he knew what she was thinking.

"There are a few of us. Those who profited from Ozai's war machine are angry, but people with international interests can see the value in doing away with the petty rivalries based on powers not everyone possesses."

"How enlightened of you," She couldn't quite keep the sarcasm from her voice. "And you intended to head off this hypothetical attack on the Fire Nation?"

"I serve the people," Tai Kahn replied with obsequious modesty, but his expression was sharp and wry. "And I do not believe in playing with wild cards. The Princess is beyond controlling."

"There's more, there has to be." She said bluntly.

"More?"

"This isn't the easiest way to do your civic duty. What are you getting out of this?"

Tai Kahn looked honestly aggrieved for the first time since Suki had held a knife to his throat. "I had a younger brother in the navy during the war," He offered. "Now I do not. The princess was _disinclined_ to arrive late; she threw him overboard. We became accustomed to such things under Azulon, under Ozai. Royalty stood high above the law. Those days have passed now but I'll be damned if I leave the chance to return to them alive when she deserves to die as Chiyo died." Tai Kahn was practically trembling with supressed anger now; his brother's death was obviously still raw in his memory, even after so many years. Suki wondered how long he had kept that story to himself, and how badly he wanted her support that he would offer it up without hesitation.

"Ah," The appropriate thing would have been to offer condolences, but Suki had the feeling he would not appreciate the sentiment. "Vengeance."

"Vengeance." He agreed with a wolfish smile.

"In that we certainly agree," Suki kept her arms folded and her voice sceptical. "So why bother lurking around the palace and trying to talk to me to me in darkened rooms?"

"Lurking is such an unpleasant term."

"And yet so accurate." She shot back.

Tai Kahn laughed. "Truly I have no untoward intentions for you Lady Suki, I simply wanted a chance to hear your views."

"And why is that?"

"Because you were the catalyst for this. You suffered the longest at Princess Azula's hands and escaped imprisonment to help bring down Ozai's fleet. Your story is known to more people than you realize." He gave her a searching glance. "And your testimony could sway many who see no advantage either way."

"So you want to know whether I am magnanimous enough to offer her forgiveness."

"I would never assume a warrior of your calibre would leave an enemy alive behind you unless they were no longer a threat. If you believe that Azula is harmless now then so be it, the courts will likely decide the same - if only to save the effort of challenging the Fire Lord to accept the execution of his sister." Tai Kahn gave her an appraising look. "But if you believe as I do that the princess is dangerous to any who cross her path then…"

"Then?"

"Perhaps you should take steps to ensure that the side of the victims is heard; that your side is heard and acknowledged. That this trial is fair and just as well as a chance for the nations to rehash their grudges and punish enemies who have long ago surrendered."

"You think my testimony would make a difference."

"I think whether you seek justice or vengeance you owe it to yourself and to your sisters – who I believe were also imprisoned and tortured – to make sure that the truth is known."

"I don't – "

"I understand that this is not an easy decision. You are very brave to have suffered her even this far. I wouldn't ask you to push yourself beyond what you can endure."

Kyoshi had not believed in vengeance. She hadn't believed in taking the outcome of any conflict as a personal affront. By the tenants of her order, Suki should have purged herself of such impulses or hung up her fans in favour of a leader uncompromised by demons. But the code of the Kyoshi warriors put defense of ones' sisters only beneath defense of their home itself and too many of them had died at Azula's hands.

"I can take whatever that witch throws at me," Suki swore vehemently, snapping her gaze back up to glare at him. "Tell me what you intend to do."

* * *

It took them a week to make a two day trip.

Partially because they had to clamber, exhausted and in Toph's case rather injured, through miles of swamp back to the baobab tree where Aang had left Appa. But mostly because they had to keep stopping since Aang refused to traumatize his oldest friend by doing anything remotely lascivious on his back. The great beast had grumbled and groaned about stopping so often, but it hadn't stopped Appa from licking Toph every time she came in range.

"It means he approves," Aang had told her, the third time she'd ended up unexpectedly wet and very irate.

Toph had tackled him to the ground and rubbed her spit slick hands on his face in retaliation.

This had devolved into a halfhearted attempt to clean themselves up between long drugging kisses and Aang once again trying not to exacerbate Toph's wounds around her insistence that 'she wasn't made of _glass_, Twinkletoes.'

The first time had been awkward, fumbling, nervous, and over embarrassingly fast, but Toph had just laughed at his mortification and drew him back and taught him all the ways that they could bring each other pleasure. Aang could admit that he went a bit mad for it after that.

They opted to avoid Gaoling - Toph had written to Varrin, assuring her old governess that she was safe and promising to tell her the whole story the next time she returned home, but she hadn't wanted to see her parents and Aang couldn't pretend to be anything but relieved to get out of another terrifying encounter with Lao and Poppy - and instead made their slow, frequently interrupted way to the Bei Fong School outside Omashu. It was early afternoon by the time they touched down in the courtyard. Aang had been unapologetically insistent on a very late start, and he tugged Toph close to him to steal a kiss before she slid off Appa's back.

She put her hand on his forehead to shove him away, making a face. "Twinkles we're going to traumatize the students."

"There's no way they've been training with you this long without being a little traumatized."

"Hey, I've got to remind them who's in charge somehow."

"Being a teacher sounds like such hard work." Aang teased, but he shouldered their newly acquired haversacks and followed Toph's limping stride towards the school. Her ribs were still a virulent purple, but she could breathe and walk without as much difficulty as she had even a week ago, it was almost enough to make him stop worrying about her every time she winced. Aang caught her hand in a silent offer of assistance just before they ducked into the shadowed entryway.

"Sifu!" Ayashu sounded impossibly relieved, rising quickly from the desk with a scroll in her hands that matched several identical missives on the table's surface. Each and every one bore the royal seal of the Fire Lord. "You're back- What in Oma's name happened to you?"

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine," Toph's second in command practically vaulted the desk to get a better look at the extent of the damage. "Are your ribs broken?"

Toph waved her off. "Just bruised."

Ayashu quirked a sceptical eyebrow and poked Toph hard in the side, dodging nimbly backwards when Toph kicked a rock at her head with a gasp of pain. "They're cracked at least. You should really lie down, I'll get Yanmei."

"I'm _alive_," Toph practically spat. "Which is more than I can say for the other guy. Go do something _useful _Aya, and stop tormenting me."

"Avatar," A soldier in full Fire Nation regalia, bearing the insignia of the golden shield on his chest interrupted the reunion from his post by the door.

"Oh ash and stone, what _now_?" Toph growled at the young man with all the fury of a very short typhoon. "Go away!"

The young man recoiled from her ire but Toph deflated quickly, turning back towards Aang, still in the doorway. "I signed up for this, didn't I?"

"Regrets?" He touched her hip lightly, trying to communicate apology and affection in the fleeting contact.

"Of course not," She snorted. "Don't be an idiot."

Because that was just Toph, even bruised and battered, she'd still be at his side, ready for the next contender. Out of the corner of his eye Aang saw Ayashu roll her eyes and realized how completely besotted he must look. Embarrassment coloured his cheeks but didn't quite manage to wipe away his grin.

"I'll restock our supplies," Toph nodded, her expression ruefully fond, as though she knew exactly what he was thinking. "We can be gone in half an hour."

Aang felt his blissed out relaxation dissolve like smoke as he turned to the frightened looking soldier. "Tell me what's happened."

* * *

"What are you doing?" Katara's voice was soft but there was no mistaking the accusation in her tone as she watched Zuko's attendants brush and straighten and fasten him into the complex and heavy formal robes. Zuko had avoided the heavy silks since his coronation because they made him feel ridiculous and his father had been scrupulous about wearing them at all state occasions; today they felt like armour. It made him feel marginally better, under the circumstances. Another barrier between himself and the role he had to play.

"I'm putting a stop to this nonsense," He considered himself in the mirror, avoiding her beseeching eyes, and tried not to shudder at exactly how much he resembled Ozai. "They've picked at my country long enough."

"The council has members from all nations, Zuko. It's not as though your people aren't represented."

"We never should have allowed them to interfere. This is a Fire Nation matter." Zuko lifted the golden hairpiece from the cushion his valet offered and fixed it to his topknot.

"Brought forward by a member of the water tribes."

"Under a _Fire Nation_ custom!" He snapped, dismissing the attendants with a gesture. The urge to relent under her scrutiny was almost overpowering. "Katara I cannot allow this to continue. I will not."

"You asked them to come, Zuko." She said reproachfully.

"To stand as impartial judges because of the corruption you uncovered with the magistrates, not to pick apart our legal system and dredge up old conflicts." The fabric was so stiff with gold thread that it barely shifted as he stepped around her, head high and expression fixed.

Katara set her jaw and followed him, the red dress she had changed into once the council had removed her flapped behind them like a banner and Zuko couldn't help but think that if there was a better image of fire nation royalty than the one they now presented, he couldn't think of it. "The council is an impartial association –"

"That is supposed to facilitate communication," He cut in over her defense. "They are not supposed to _govern_ and I will not allow them to challenge my rule."

"So tell them that."

"That's exactly what I'm doing."

"Dressed like this?" She seized his arm, before Zuko could step into the room that had been designated for the council's use. "You know who you look like."

"Yes," He reached out to catch her chin with one hand, and bent close enough to brush a kiss against the corner of her lips. "I'm sorry Katara, but this is who I have to be right now."

Katara believed in the council and their mission. She had spent years pouring her heart and soul into making certain that the group held true to its credo of justice and fairness, that they worked for peace above all else; and now Zuko was asking her to stand by while he tore down their authority and undermined their power.

"I love you." He told her solemnly, knowing it probably wouldn't help.

Her fingers clung to his wrist for a moment before Katara allowed him to step away, hurt plain on her lovely face in the split second that Zuko saw it as the door shut behind him. He took a deep breath before the attention in the room shifted to him.

"Gentlemen," He squared his shoulders and tipped his chin up, to maximise every inch of height and bulk he had. "I believe there has been something of a misunderstanding."

"Fire Lord Zuko," The earth kingdom representative, Lord Qun whom Katara loathed, brought the council's focus to bear. "With respect this is a private meeting –"

"Held in my palace, as are all of you."

"Is that a threat, Fire Lord?" The young Water Tribe warrior sitting next to Bato sneered at him and Zuko had to shake away a very comforting fantasy of smacking the man's head against the dark wood of the table hard enough to make it bounce. Instead, he paced the circumference of the square table with unhurried steps, coming to a stop at the side which face the door he had entered through.

"A reminder," He said tersely. "It would behove you all to remember that you are here at my request and under my sufferance as a show of good faith. This council was intended to act as impartial magistrates, but since your arrival you have culled your number, opted not to wait for those among you who were known to be in sympathy with my country and attempted to rewrite our laws for the purposes of a trial that was called under them." Zuko glared at the young Fire Nation scribe who held the seat at the head of the table until the boy blanched and scrambled up. "I am here to inform you that this stops _now_."

"Fire Lord you cannot simply-" Qun began again and Zuko cut him off once more with no small amount of satisfaction.

"This is _not_ a discussion," He did not quite shout, but it was a near thing. He settled back in the vacated chair and glared at them all, the very picture of nonchalant imperiousness. "The legal precedent for this type of trial will be taken into account. Each member of this council will be assigned an aide to assist them with understanding of Fire Nation law and its application before the proceedings, but there will be no alterations or deviations from our traditions. Do I make myself clear?"

The council exchanged uncomfortable glances but no one seemed willing to deliberately step forward to argue with him. Zuko did not let the intensity of his expression falter until Piandao finally nodded. "We defer to Agni's scion in this matter." He said, his face a contrast of disappointment and admiration which Zuko could not allow himself to care about. "But, my lord, Master Katara's status cannot be reinstated if we are to remain impartial in our judgements."

"Besides the chance of being called as witness, the future Fire Lady has no place in these proceedings." There was a round of nods this time, some more reluctant than others but the message had obviously been received; Katara was not to blame for Zuko's rejection of the Council and would not be brought to task for it when she returned to them. Zuko looked each man carefully in the eye.

"You are dismissed."

* * *

_A/N It's too hot to write an Authors Note. Badass Zuko rocks my socks_


	18. Zugzwang

**XVIII. Zugzwang**

* * *

_Trigger Warning: Mentions of __extreme violence, suicide and allusions to rape. Prison is bad, even in the Avatar 'verse._

* * *

Katara stormed into her bedroom, sodden skirts flapping ungainly around her ankles. She kicked at them, cursing for a moment, before giving up and trying to peel the wet dress off before a meek cough alerted her to the fact that she was not alone. Too red faced with anger to feel the flush of embarrassment she spun on her heel to confront the maid who'd been in the process of delivering Katara's correspondence.

"I asked that any letters be left on the desk in other room," She snapped, feeling instantly contrite as the girl quailed under her stare. "I'm sorry," Katara clenched and unclenched her fists, trying to bring her temper under control. "That was rude, I apologize."

She'd been riding the slow slide from disappointment to anger since Zuko had donned the trappings of the Fire Nation Empire to confront the council and shut her out with barely a word of explanation. She hadn't seen him since; opting to make her displeasure known by avoiding communal meals and leaving him to seek her out at first. A route that had become quickly ineffective when Ursa had come to Katara complaining of loneliness because Zuko had been eating in his study away from everyone else.

Not that returning had made a difference. Her fiancée continued to avoid her, and without an external task to focus on Katara found herself growing more and more angry.

She'd spent the whole morning on the training grounds, submersing herself in her element until her arms were trembling and her head ached but rather than feeling the deep calm of still water, bending had only seemed to intensify her tempestuous mood.

Still, that was no reason to be frightening the help.

"Just put the letters in the other room, if you would. I'll see to them when I get changed into something dry." She said as gently as she could manage.

"Of course my Lady, I would have done that in the first place only… this one came by a messenger who said it was urgent," She offered a thin sealed envelope. "And for your eyes only. I thought I ought to bring it to you directly my lady, only your chatelaine said you were not to be disturbed."

"That's quite alright," Katara's attention was only for the dark charcoal paper of the message. "Thank you for your initiative."

With another murmured honorific and a curtsy that was deeper than Katara's current status probably warranted, the maid skittered out of the room with a speed that made her feel momentarily guilty again.

The black wax seal on the envelope was unmarked and she broke it with a flick of her fingernail, searching the white paper inside for a clue to the writer's identity before bothering to actually read the missive, but the spidery black characters were in a completely unfamiliar hand.

_It will be to your advantage to be present at the following address this evening. Come alone._

The letter was unsigned, just a street address below the two lines.

She should burn it. Nothing good could come of an unsigned note or a clandestine meeting at a time like this.

Katara stripped off the rest of her wet robes and began to dig around in her wardrobe for dark clothing.

* * *

The fluttering sense of guilt in the pit of her stomach only increased as Katara ducked another pair of liveried palace guards and slipped through the last herbaceous boarder to the outer wall. From the rear of the complex she would have to loop back through most of the city to reach the rendezvous, but she wouldn't have to cross the wide crescent of the parade ground which decorated the palace's main entrance. The dull colours she was wearing were good for slipping unnoticed through the back alleys of the capital, but against the white marble of the courtyard she would have stood out like blood against the snow.

_I don't have to get involved_. She repeated to herself for the umpteenth time, trying to silence the absolute certainty that she should have shown the note to someone else. Whatever this was, Katara decided, she didn't have to act on anything, she could simply observe and do nothing at all.

She should have burned the paper to ash before she could memorize the address on it; instead she was skulking in the lengthening twilight shadows and contemplating how best to get herself over a ten foot stone wall.

"Lady Katara," said a smooth cool voice right next to her ear.

Katara leapt back, the liquid from her water skin whipping out at the perceived assailant. Mai dodged nimbly away, letting the black and gold clad soldier at her shoulder take the brunt of the strike across one shoulder with a grunt of surprise.

"Oh!" Katara dropped her control over the water, leaving it to splash harmlessly against the flagstones. "I'm so sorry."

"I shouldn't have startled you, My Lady." The guard said with an automatic bow.

Mai waved off the apologies. "Better that you are on your guard." She tugged Katara into step with her, heading left along the perimeter of the wall. "I'm glad you had the time to meet me."

She didn't look glad; Mai was as impassive as ever, save for the muscle in her jaw that kept jumping and twitching, which long experience had taught Katara meant she was feeling absolutely murderous. The shieldmistress dismissed her escort with a few short words, sending him to walk along the wall in the opposite direction, and pulled Katara away, talking too loudly about the fortifications until they were out of earshot.

"Would you care to explain exactly what you think you're doing?" She said finally, narrowing her eyes at Katara.

"How did you even find me?"

Mai stared at her for a moment. "The Golden Shield have been training under my personal instruction for the last five years. It is our duty to apprehend the most skilled of infiltrators and assassins. Did you really think that you could make it through the palace without anyone noticing?"

Katara flushed with shame, thinking of how foolish she must have looked, skirting from shadow to shadow. "So they…"

"Told me that Lady Katara was creeping her way towards the outer walls," Mai's glare was icy. "I assured them that you and I were meeting to discuss possible improvements to the defenses."

"And they believed you?"

"No, but at least now they aren't speculating. So now you can tell me in complete and exhaustive detail what you could possibly be thinking."

"I got a note." Katara said stubbornly.

"From the same anonymous source who mentioned Azula?"

"No it wasn't signed..." she was cut off as Mai snagged the paper from her grasp before Katara could close her nerveless fingers over it.

"It's probably nothing," She squeaked, but Mai just gave her an arch look and folded the paper into razor sharp creases before making it disappear into the folds of her uniform.

"I will send someone discreet."

"The note was sent to me," Katara protested. "I'm meant to go."

"I'll make sure you are present at the debriefing if you wish," When she opened her mouth to argue once more, Mai cut her off. "I understand that you want to go. You are frustrated with doing nothing and being relegated to the sidelines. I can appreciate that, but this country stands upon the brink of something terrible and there are too many forces arrayed against us to risk anything that might set things tumbling forward. So you are going to go back to your room, or the training yard, or the library and the Shield are going to follow, and you will not do anything stupid or reckless or impulsive because you are _too important to lose _right now," She let out an almost inaudible breath that for Mai was the equivalent to a great theatrical sigh of irritation. "I am done with this; you, Zuko, and your heroics. I'm going to go with Ty Lee and be a Kyoshi Warrior."

"You'd hate the makeup." Katara murmured the denial without even thinking.

Mai gave the faintest of smirks. "You are not wrong about that."

"Thank you Mai."

"This is my job," She replied. "We all serve the Fire Nation."

There was something nearing reproach in her tone and as Katara turned away towards her chambers the inference it brought forth nagged at her. She'd heard that phrase most of her life, more and more since the end of the war; 'serve the Fire Nation'. There was no question that Zuko and Mai did and from the lowest to the highest, that mantra was repeated; held onto the way the Southern Tribes had clung to every scrap of tradition as they stood on the edge of total oblivion.

She was reminded sharply of Sokka trying to teach toddlers how to be proper warriors, because for all that they knew, he was the very last one. A half-trained boy with the weight of their whole history on his shoulders; just as their culture as waterbenders had rested upon hers.

It would have been so simple for the Fire Nation never to rise from its defeat, fall to infighting or collapse into an economic sinkhole and much of their success was dependant on the tenacity of Zuko and his family; namely, their refusal to treat the end of the war as a lost fight. Katara fought her own demons when it came to personal loyalties, split as she was between her tribes and the country of the man she loved, but ultimately she believed that each nation needed to thrive in order to keep balance in the world. These people were her people now. If she was to be Fire Lady, Katara decided, then she would serve the Fire Nation, no matter the cost.

* * *

The house was quiet, the latticed windows overlooking the affluent Yellow Pearl District all the way down to the darkened harbour. Suki surveyed the room carefully, checking possible exits as the door swung closed behind her. It was a staid, respectable room, full of elegantly carved furniture in dark woods. A pair of sofa's faced one another in front of a large fireplace, which was lit despite the warmth of the spring air. The firelight cast flickering shadows over the low sideboard beneath the window and the scroll shelf that covered the whole opposite wall.

Suki shook her head and turned, listening to the distant sound of bells tolling the late hour over the city. She was early; there had been no sign of Tai Kahn on her way in. The house likely did not belong to the consul, or at least it wasn't somewhere he lived, the place was almost spartan in its lack of personal effects. Even the paintings to either side of the mantle were generic landscapes, the kind you might find in any public house.

The note requesting her presence had been hand delivered to her room in the palace this afternoon by a serving maid who had received it from a nondescript courier. It contained just this address and a time, but Suki had burned it carefully anyways, watching the unmarked black wax of the seal drip against the hearth as the paper turned to ash.

The door behind her opened with a soft click and Suki shifted her stance from relaxed to something that only appeared to be at ease, her fingers twitching for her fans.

Tai Kahn appeared unarmed, but then again so did she.

"Commander,"

"Consul," Suki returned the greeting, matching her voice exactly to his tone.

"I'm so pleased you accepted our invitation."

"Our?" she looked deliberately around the empty room.

"I'm a simple bureaucrat, Commander Suki," Tai Kahn spread his hands wide before folding them behind his back. "I could not have moved, even to protect my country, without allies."

"And will they be joining us?"

"Not this evening," He inclined his head towards the divans but Suki made no move to sit. Tai Kahn gave her a sympathetic half smile and moved to the sideboard, pouring two tiny bone china cups of sake from an exquisitely cut crystal decanter and passing one to her. He made an obvious show of taking the first sip, in a clear attempt to put her at ease. "Commander Suki, you and I – and my compatriots – are looking for the same thing. I am not here to fool you into anything; all that matters to us is that justice is served."

His voice was pitched low and soft, sending a prickling sensation rushing up the nape of her neck. Despite herself Suki found it soothing. "And you think I can help you dispense justice?"

"I said before that you are in a unique position. You are exactly what we have been looking for and working together we could be a force for change in more than just the Fire Nation."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Lady Suki, whether you know it or not you are an ambassador for international relations. A woman of the earth kingdom, marrying into the water tribes, who very visibly and publicly works with citizens of the Fire Nation –"

"Ty Lee thinks of herself as a Kyoshi Islander now."

"But think of how that is perceived. Your prowess as a warrior is legendary and more importantly it is not tied to the dogma of any one nation."

"You mean I'm not a bender."

"No, you are not," the consul agreed with an encouraging smile. "And I think that is more of an asset than you realize." He took a sip of his drink and leaned against the sofa. "I realize what I am asking you to share."

"Do you really?" Suki couldn't repress a sneer. "How many times were you taken as a prisoner of war?"

"No one came out without scars," He said gently. "I am not here to judge, I won't pretend. There is nothing you can say that will shock me or make me think less of you."

"Even if I believed you," Suki began, but she could feel her resolve crumbling away at the edges. Her father had broken down into tears midway through her recounting of what had happened, begging her forgiveness for allowing Suki to join the Kyoshi warriors so young and apologizing endlessly for something he would never have had the power to stop. In the end she had whitewashed a great deal of it to spare him. Sokka knew more of the details, he had after all seen the marks branded on her skin, and when the nightmares overwhelmed her he would bring Suki back to herself and promise that she would always be protected; but she'd never told him everything, wary of his compassion and fearing that he might stay with her only out of pity. Tai Kahn didn't see her or know her. To him Suki was simply a tool – one she had no doubt he would handle with delicacy, but only an asset all the same.

It would be an odd sort of relief, she thought, to explain to someone who didn't really care.

Tai Kahn smiled at her and for a moment he might move to take her hand. "This isn't just about wanting Azula punished; this is about what you need to move forward. Not just you, but everyone who suffered at her hand."

"The girls," She murmured, she had lost so many of her warriors to the darkness in their pasts. So few of her original team remained, hanging up their fans one by one in favour of a life without creeping shadows behind every memory; and every year they held vigil for the few who had walked out into the ocean and never looked back.

Suki had talked to most of them, sometimes for years before the women took that final step, desperate trying to help them move past the memories of being broken and bleeding, of agony and violation. She herself had been spared that particular fate – more by luck and chance than design – but Suki understood that there were some things from which there was no recovery.

She had worked so hard to accept her experiences and move through them; to truly come to terms with her own helplessness and not to blame or punish herself for what happened to her. She'd learned to be the strong woman with the dark past and not see her experiences as a result of her own failure. But not everyone had been so lucky.

She dreamed about that hot, close darkness, but some of her sisters had never left it.

Tai Kahn nodded. "Those who do not speak will always be counted as voiceless. Unless you act, the Fire Lord will allow his sister to go free. "

"Zuko has no more sympathy for her than I do," Suki shook her head, refusing to entertain the possibility.

"No? Family is important in the Fire Nation, Second only to service to the country, and for the Fire Lord the Princess is both. The question is," He said. "Do you want to allow her to torture and murder others, or do you want to become a hero?"

This time when Tai Kahn gestured Suki accepted the offered seat.

* * *

Suki left the rendezvous feeling emotionally drained. She and Tai Kahn had gone over her experiences with Azula in more detail than she had ever offered to anyone but Sokka, trying to work out the most effective means of communicating the horror of what had happened to her. The memories had threatened to choke her more than once, but Tai Kahn had kept her cup full and his voice soothing, without being patronizing and Suki had been able to remain detached enough to talk.

Almost too detached, if his reaction was anything to go by; the Consul had repeatedly encouraged her to let her emotions out, making noises about healing and catharsis that Suki hadn't really listened to. She'd purged before, with the people whom she had truly trusted – Sokka, her father – and speaking with Tai Kahn had actually helped her to gain more distance on the experience, rather than slicing old wounds open further.

To turn her pain into something useful gave it size and purpose. It made her loathing feel righteous.

Suki's confidence rose with every step. This was the right course of action, she was certain. She would testify honestly and Azula would be judged and sentenced in accordance with the law, no matter the political machinations surrounding the trial. The clean burn of righteousness was so distracting Suki didn't notice that she was being watched until her observer stepped out of the shadows.

"This is even more unfortunate than I'd expected."

* * *

Suki knew she was probably capable of breaking Mai's hold on her, but the looming shield guards behind them both and the fact that then she would have to actually fight Mai once she was free dissuaded her from protesting as she was shoved unceremoniously into a hard backed chair. Everything in Mai's office was designed to make the person sitting where Suki was slumped now as uncomfortable as possible, while maintaining the smooth exterior that Mai herself projected. There were no ostentatious displays of weaponry or torture implements; there were none of the lavish trappings that might be expected from someone in so high a position. The walls were unadorned, dark, dark red; the furniture was smooth upholstered wood. There wasn't even a carpet on the dark stone floor.

As a matter of fact, Suki noted, there wasn't a single surface in the room that would show a bloodstain. It was all constructed to be wiped clean.

Mai settled herself on the opposite side of the desk in the tall blackwood chair that made her look even taller and paler than normal, with an expression that said she was waiting for Suki to reach exactly that conclusion.

"You don't really do paperwork in here, do you?" The question fell out of Suki's lips before she was even aware she was speaking and she had to physically stop herself from clapping a hand over her mouth in mortification. _Entirely too much time with Sokka._

The question seemed to disarm Mai though, her demeanour softened slightly and her tone was more relaxed when she answered. "No, my real office is down the hall," She gave Suki a sharp look. "This is the interrogation room."

"So you've given up implying I'm a traitor and decided to just drag me in," Suki went rigid, giving the room more than a cursory glance and trying to mentally calculate how many knives Mai might have on her at the moment.

"You were meeting with Tai Khan, the man who called for Azula's execution." Mai said, as though it was possible that Suki might not have known.

"Are private meetings forbidden in the Fire Nation now?"

"What did he want from you?"

"Why should that even matter? Are you tracking my movements now? Am I a danger to the Fire Lord?"

"Suki," Mai's voice was cold and hard as black ice. "Katara received the note that sent me there. _Katara_ was supposed to see you meeting with the man who used her brother to call for Azula's execution on _your _behalf."

Suki's stomach dropped. Katara, for all her ferocious loyalty, was not the most rational person when confronted by betrayal – _fake betrayal!_ – her mind insisted, but Suki knew that if push had come to shove and Katara had been there, when they were all so on edge with one another, it wouldn't have mattered.

"She's angry enough right now to assume the worst." Suki agreed, though that admission hurt.

"It wouldn't have lasted long," Mai assured her. Suki couldn't help but wonder exactly how awful she looked at that thought if Mai were condescending to offer comfort.

"But by the time she stopped being angry," Katara held onto a grudge the way a starving man might a loaf of bread.

"Who knows what might have happened." Mai finished the thought. "I barely managed to head her off."

"You're sure she didn't follow?"

"She's having dinner with Ursa," She twitched an eyebrow at the look of surprise Suki could feel on her face. "I had her followed, of course."

"You know," Suki choked out, "you know I wasn't…"

Mai's face was utterly impassive. "You were not aware of Tai Kahn's intentions. Azula's incarceration wasn't something any of us wanted, but I doubt you'd risk her having the chance to escape on the slim hope that you could see her publicly destroyed." Her lips twitched in the barest hint of cold amusement. "I assume if you couldn't live without her death you would have broken into the facility and cut her down."

"I would not."

"The Kyoshi Warriors have a history of solving problems with aggressive efficiency," Mai ignored her sputtering denial. "If you'd wanted it done, it would have been."

"You don't seem all that concerned for your old friend."

"On the contrary, I wish you had taken care of it years ago," she said without a flicker of emotion. "Now, of course, it's far too late."

Suki stared blankly at her. She'd been there when Azula condemned Ty Lee and Mai to the boiling rock, and she had heard the stories about that prison from Ty Lee years later. The prison had been the perfect gaol for those with an axe to grind against the Fire Nation - political dissidents, terrorists and war prisoners; everyone who hated the royal family and all their subordinates. Suki's time in prison had been horrific because of the guards, because she'd still been recovering from torture at Azula's hands and because she had been terrified for the welfare of her warriors but her position as a leader of the resistance, her training and injuries had insulated her somewhat from the infighting and dangers that prison could hold. They respected her enough to leave her mostly alone and those who didn't Suki was generally capable of re-educating.

Mai's uncle had been kidnapped by Zuko, Sokka and Hakoda as they all made their escape and she had taken out enough of the guards while assisting them that there was no trace of empathy left in the wardens for the princess's former bodyguards. Ty Lee rarely spoke about it and, when she could be persuaded, put a bright face on as she always did but there was no question it had been more than just difficult for the two young women.

Ty Lee always seemed ready to put the past behind her, Suki had never asked Mai exactly how she felt.

"Azula dies or she goes back to prison forever."

Suki forced down a pang of sympathy at the bleakness in Mai's voice. "You want me to testify."

"If you think you can win." She nodded. "And if you think you can live with what the others might say."

"Ma'am," They two of them both started at the noise as a young woman with short cropped hair and an austere face knocked lightly on the door as she opened it, and held out a bulging file tied shut with a strip of blood red fabric. "The Spymaster sends his regards."

"Ask him to change his ridiculous title." Mai said humourlessly, but she nodded in thanks when the woman placed the folder on her desk.

Suki tried to curb her own curiosity as Mai skimmed the hastily written characters on the first sheet of paper without success. "Zuko has a Spymaster?"

"Much to my despair," the other woman murmured, her voice distracted as she reread the final lines and began to sift through the rest of the documentation the file contained. "This has become a great deal more complicated."

"I doubt it can get any worse."

"Tai Kahn, he's not working alone."

"Well obviously. He told me that himself."

"No," Mai raised both hands as though she might slam them down on the desk in frustration but managed to simply fold them on the tabletop. "Before he became Consul, Tai Kahn was part of a merchant organization which used to operate on the fringes of the empire during Azulon's reign and specialized in international trade; mining operations, shipyards, that sort of thing. They became more integrated with our government as the Imperial Family seized control of all means of production for the war machine. In the Earth Kingdom they went to ground; started smuggling ancient texts or relics for academies and universities. 'The Hand', they called themselves."

Suki shook her head. "I don't understand why that matters. Is he still part of the smuggling ring? Is there something illegal about his credentials?"

"It's important because the organization went to ground in the last few years of the war. Mention of it just started to dry up and most prominent known associates changed careers or vanished. Which is why we never thought to look for it," Mai sounded as though she were cursing herself more than explaining.

"Look for what?"

"They didn't just fade away, they went to ground. I'd never seen their insignia before," Mai flipped the papers around so that Suki could see the crest. It was a line drawing rather than the emblem Suki knew, but the image was the same; stark and easily recognizable. "Apparently they're now known as the Black Fist."

* * *

The sun was breaking over the horizon when they hit the coastline. Toph stirred at the press of morning sunlight, shifting on the wide cushion of Appa's saddle and trying to find a good way to move that didn't result in pressure on her injured ribs.

"Good morning!" Aang called, much too cheerfully from his perch on the bison's head. Appa added a groan of his own to the greeting as Toph clambered up to lean against Aang's side with a nonverbal sound of acknowledgment.

"Sleep well?"

"S'Chilly." She replied, still trying to force her body into wakefulness. "Where are we?"

"Not far now," He dropped a kiss on her forehead. "There's a ship flying Kyoshi colours just below us and Appa could use a rest. I say we land there."

"Ship?" Toph furrowed her brow, but Aang just laughed at her obvious displeasure.

"They're barely an hour out from the docks. You'll be fine."

"I'm puking on _you_, Twinkletoes. Remember that." Her stomach hit her throat as Aang pulled back on Appa's reigns and sent them into a plummeting dive.

They landed as lightly as a ten ton, six legged beast could possibly be expected to, but Toph smacked Aang across the back of his skull in retribution all the same. He ducked away, chuckling, and caught her wrist, pulling her close enough to feel his breath for a moment before an excited cry of greeting startled them apart.

"Aang! Toph!" Ty Lee's voice barely preceded the sound of running footsteps over the deck. The Kyoshi people, unfortunately, still built their ships out of wood, so Toph was unsure exactly what was causing the most cheerful of warriors to sound so flustered. "Where did you come from?"

"We just fell out of the sky." Toph said sardonically, grinning in Ty Lee's general direction and trying not to lean back from her enthusiastic hug.

"I thought you'd both be in the Fire Nation, doing damage control with the others."

"We were ah, busy in the Earth Kingdom," Aang prevaricated before his brain caught up with his mouth and he practically interrupted his own answer to ask, "What do you mean damage control?"

"Oh, well you know Suki's letter was all very formal, asking if any of the warriors wanted to testify or bear witness, but Mai's note asked me to come and help her calm everyone down, so I guess things must be going pretty badly," Her giggle sounded slightly forced and she leaned close enough that Toph could feel the heat of Ty Lee's skin before continuing in a half whisper. "I think she wanted to give me a chance to, you know, say goodbye. In case she does get….condemned to death."

"What?" they demanded in unison.

The messenger had said there was a problem, that the council had been called, he'd told them both that Zuko wanted Aang back to help contain Azula; but no details, nothing of why or how this had all come about.

Ty Lee seemed puzzled. "Didn't anyone tell you? We've all been called to the Fire Nation for the trial. Whether or not Azula should be executed for war crimes."

Toph heard rather than sensed Aang reach out and clamp a hand onto Ty Lee's wrist, but she could practically feel the leashed power radiating from him as he spoke. "Tell me everything you know."

* * *

"How in the seven winds did this happen?"

Aang had almost been brought up short by the sight that greeted him when he shoved the double doors open with a blast of wind. He battled the instinctive urge to drop into a fighting stance as he realized it was not Ozai but _Zuko_ behind the desk, coiffed and dressed exactly like his father. Aang's gorge rose at the comparison and for a moment he desperately wanted to forget everything and just tease and needle Zuko until his friend reappeared.

"You vanished," Sokka called from the bench along one wall of Zuko's public office. "And everything went to hell. Haven't we all gotten used to this cycle of misfortune by now?"

Toph slugged him hard in the arm before collapsing next to him with a pained groan. "We saved the world, by the way. What have you done lately?"

"Let everything go to hell." Aang heard Sokka say affably, but his attention was drawn back to Zuko when the Fire Lord slammed the scroll he'd been holding down on the desk with enough force to dislodge one of the endcaps.

"Enough!" Zuko stalked across the room until they were nose to nose. "You left. Without so much as a word."

"She was doing something stupid!" He gestured to where Sokka was trying to surreptitiously examine Toph's injuries without alerting her to the fact that he was doing it.

"Toph is always doing something stupid."

"Hey!"

"Not now!" Zuko snapped at her.

"Zuko calm down."

"Calm down?" His voice turned dangerous and low. "Tomorrow we begin a trial that may very well end with my sister beheaded and my family ousted from our throne. The Council of Four Nations has removed Katara and I have had to take on my father's mantle just to maintain control. Suki is missing, my mother is devastated, and all of us have been at each others' throats."

"Azula's been let out of the institution?" Toph shifted awkwardly away from Sokka's concerned ministrations.

"Oh yeah, she came to dinner the other night. Good times."

Aang ignored them both. "You're going to stop the trial though, right Zuko?"

All the anger drained away from the young Fire Lord and he looked utterly hopeless for a moment, before groaning and pinching at the bridge of his nose. "No Aang, I'm not," He didn't allow Aang the opportunity to interrupt. "I can't interfere more than I already have with the proceedings. The best I can do is try to ensure they won't use this as an opportunity to do more damage to my country, and to try and hang on to what I can."

"But it's wrong to execute people."

"Not in the Fire Nation. Not for war crimes."

"I- I could talk to the council." Aang offered.

"You could, maybe. Technically you have a place on it, as the only real representative of the Air Nomads, but your judgement in this matter is just as compromised as Katara's in some ways, and you're hardly an impartial judge," He sighed. "Not that anyone else really is either."

"I have to stop this, I have to do something."

"It's not your place."

"I'm the Avatar."

"And this is not Avatar business! You disappeared to handle _Avatar Business_ and forfeited your right to involve yourself in other affairs. That's how it works Aang - you're not stupid, you know that – you leave and we carry on. _Without you._"

"Zuko," Toph interrupted. "We couldn't have known."

"Yes. I am aware," His tone relaxed from furious to irritated and slightly petulant. "But that's not exactly making me less angry."

"I'm sorry." Aang offered. "It's not – I can't… condone this, but you're right. As long as it doesn't affect the balance I've got no right to intervene," He looked from Toph to Sokka and back to Zuko. "Are you sure I can't intervene?"

Zuko barked a laugh. "I'll tell you what; get Katara to talk to me again and you can do anything you want."

* * *

"Toph!" Katara nearly leapt back in surprise, standing aside to let the smaller woman through the doorway. "When did you arrive? I'm sorry I wasn't there to see you –"

She cut herself off as Toph stepped through into the brighter light of Katara's sitting room, bringing the scrapes and bruises that mottled her pale skin into sharp relief.

"Not why I'm here Sugar Queen," Toph held up a hand to forestall any further pleasantries and made her way carefully over to the nearest settee.

"You're injured! What happened?"

"I went ten rounds with an ancient demon who wanted to hollow out my soul and use my body as a vessel for world domination."

Katara blinked and stared, trying to force Toph's statement to make a modicum of sense. "Stay there," She said finally. "I'll get some water to work on your ribs and you can explain everything."

"I'm more interested in you," Toph called to her through the door, as Katara hunted for a basin. "Zuko told me you're not talking."

"He threatened the council, Toph!" She stormed back into the parlour without bothering to find what she'd been looking for, dragging moisture from the air until it crackled with static dryness. "Playing on their old fears – ice and salt, he even looks like Ozai!"

She knelt in front of Toph, helping the younger girl pull her tunic off to expose a wide spread of mottled purple that faded to a sickly yellow-green at the edges. Katara pressed her water coated hands lightly against the injury and sank into the healing, letting the familiar task lull her. "I know why he did it, but seeing him like this… I can't watch him become his father."

"Katara," Toph ran two fingers across Katara's brow, the pads of her digits unexpectedly soft compared to the roughness of her palms and knuckles, and tapped her sharply on one temple. "Stop it. I know you're angry and you're scared but come on! Are you a Kyoshi Warrior when you dress as one? Or a firebender when you wear those fancy gowns? No you're just Katara in ugly makeup and a stupid crown; but you wear it anyway when you want people to see you a certain way. That's all Zuko's doing and you know it."

Katara flicked her fingers, sending a ribbon of cold water chasing across Toph's exposed stomach just to make her hiss. "You're talking big about appearances for a blind girl."

"You're seeing the big scary Fire Lord, but to me Sparky feels just as mopey as he always does when you two fight."

Reaching out with her bending, Katara sunk into the liquid that filled the tissue of Toph's muscles, soothing the last of the swelling around the bruised and formerly fractured bones, shifting the blood which had collected under the skin and dissipating the worst of the bruises. She drew back and began to look for other injuries. "It's such a fight though. Not just with Zuko; Suki and I … we said horrible things to each other and Sokka's furious."

"We've fought before," Toph reminded her bluntly. "Your brother and I didn't talk for almost a year. I don't recall you moaning anywhere near this much when that happened."

"That was different," She trailed her healing water over a group of small round bruises that were mirrored on both of Toph's hips. "What… Toph, are these _finger_ _marks_?"

Toph pursed her lips, flushing red and Katara couldn't resist a leer. "Fighting an ancient demon, huh? Was this before or after you got _manhandled_?"

"I did!" She batted Katara's hands away and sat up, smiling in relief at the absence of pain. "Fix this one," She pointed at the slice that cut across her clavicle. "I almost got stabbed."

"Only you would sound pleased about that."

Toph was silent for a long moment. "So why did you say them, those awful things you told Suki?"

"She wants Azula to die," Katara sat back on her haunches as the long cut vanished into a thin pink line. "Actually I think Suki might want to kill her herself."

"And you think Princess Crazy deserves to live?" It wasn't truly a question, no matter the phrasing.

"I hate Azula," She insisted. "I do. She's hurt so many people and she isn't the least bit sorry for it, but condemn her to death?" Katara closed her eyes, seeing that broken, burning arena under a rusty sky as a young woman sobbed brokenly, slumped against the flagstones. She hadn't been angry at Azula in that moment, only sad. More than the disgusted contempt she'd had for Yon Rah's piteous snivelling; actual regret for what they'd all been forced into, even if the Princess had brought it on herself. "I defeated her once, I saw her break completely. Isn't that enough?"

"It might be, for you. But Katara-"

"I just want to understand why. All her intelligence and charisma and she only ever used it to hurt people. I can't even comprehend the reason for it."

"I didn't either," Toph sighed. Then, as though she could feel the question in Katara's glance she crossed her ankles and began to explain where exactly all her injuries had come from. "On the equinox, I started hearing a voice in my head and… wait, how much do you know about Avatar Kuruk?"

"I know he was the last Water Tribe Avatar and that he married a woman from the south." Katara offered hesitantly.

"He never married her; she was taken by the Face Stealer on her wedding day. Her name was Ummi, and Koh convinced her to possess me in order to gain himself a human body in return for reuniting them."

"Do you just disappear for weeks and then spend the whole time making this stuff up?"

"You're turning into your brother," Toph shot back instantly. "Would you just be quiet and listen?"

Out of all the things she had considered might have led to Toph's abrupt disappearance, an escaping servant of the death god would never have crossed Katara's mind. Elements of the tale had clearly been cobbled together from Aang's overly modest or heavily edited account of his own experience but what truly caught Katara's attention was Ummi.

Toph spoke of the woman like a long lost friend, which was at once surprising and completely expected. Though her focus was rarely altruistic, Toph was ferociously loyal once she'd been given a reason to be. She'd always been more inclined to forgive an attack or infraction than Katara herself was; but the scope of Ummi's deception and betrayal seemed unbearable.

A woman who was willing to let the world burn for love.

Katara couldn't help but admire the romance of it, distantly; even though her whole being revolted against the idea of actually following through on so heinous a crime. She thought it a fitting end when Toph detailed the first attack in her battle with Koh. It was reassuring to think that there could be redemption, even to someone who had intended great evil.

But Toph kept talking and apparently Ummi lived.

The tribeswoman did not get to have martyrdom and redemption. Instead she would serve penance, but be permitted hold on to the one thing she had truly wanted all along, and Katara couldn't help but wonder what in the black ice it all meant.

Katara brushed tears she hadn't realized she'd been shedding from her cheeks and fixed her gaze studiously on the small round discolorations that decorated Toph's hip while she struggled to bring her emotions back in check. "You went back to your parents looking like that?" She asked, trying for flippant and coming out croaky. "Did your dad tear Aang apart?"

"I'm not that stupid Sugar Queen," The younger girl smiled lightly. "We stopped at the school. Zuko's messenger was already waiting for us," Toph's genial expression melted away. "Pretty clever of Sparky not to tell us why; Aang isn't too pleased about being summoned to preside over someone's death."

Scrubbing at her face with both hands Katara looked up at her properly, unnecessary though it might have been. "So you think I should let her be executed? Send Azula to Ummi for punishment?"

"_Sweet Oma singing,_ Katara," Toph swore in surprise. "I'm not pronouncing sentence on anyone here. I only thought it might help you."

"But what does it mean? Just that she will be forced to atone either way? Or that mercy is always the right thing?"

"I don't know Sugar Queen; you're the expert in that touchy feely crap. I just break things," as though she was feeling Katara's anxiety, Toph relented and her voice turned fond. "But… if I had to say it all meant anything, I think it would be that there's not a whole lot we wouldn't do for love."

* * *

_A/N - I owe all of you who are still reading an apology on the slow rate of updates. I'm trying to crank out longer chapters to make up for the difference and I hope you're liking this story enough to stick with me!_


	19. Jus ad Bellum

**IXX. Jus ad Bellum**

* * *

_Trigger warnings for Graphic Violence, mention of an emotionally abusive relationship, allusions to rape and suicide.  
_

* * *

Suki leapt easily to her feet. "He can't have gotten out of the city yet."

Mai gave her a look of mild confusion. "No, I imagine the Consul retired to his home for the evening."

"Do you need to tell Zuko or something before we go?"

"Go?"

"Go and arrest him. He's Black Fist."

Mai said nothing. "They tortured children!" Suki all but screamed at her.

"And how exactly would we charge him of that?"

It took Suki a moment to comprehend exactly what Mai was saying to her. Too much time spent with Sokka and Toph had set her default response to wrongdoing at 'destroy'. "He's associated with them. They kidnapped the Earth King's son. There's no jurisdiction limit on that."

"Those men were apprehended and denied the involvement of any other organization," Mai said, utterly calm in the face of Suki's growing agitation. "Even if it wouldn't be a nightmare of bureaucracy to get him extradited to the Earth Kingdom, there is absolutely no proof that Tai Kahn is part of the current Black Fist. All we know for certain is that he was once a member of a legal organization with ties to an alleged terrorist group. By that logic I could arrest you for having been a Kyoshi when they were wanted by the government."

"Then what, exactly, do you propose we do?"

"Nothing."

Mai didn't give her the option to question further; the expression on her face had apparently made Suki's thoughts quite clear. "We have no idea what their intentions might be, but for the moment their path and ours seem to be leading in the same direction. If the Black Fist want to throw their time and resources at this trial then we should let them, and simply reap the benefits."

"I don't understand how you can possibly condone working with these people. They are evil."

"When did you become so idealistic?" Mai seemed bemused. "You and I both know things are never that simple. The ends, in this case, will justify our means. Besides which, you are now in a position to act as an observer, a trusted ally."

"Or a patsy!" Suki snapped. "The fact that I'm right where they want me to be doesn't worry you?"

"Are you concerned for your safety?"

"Not my _safety_."

"Then no."

"And if he ends up being a fanatical zealot like Zaofu?"

"Tai Khan could be Azulon in disguise and it would make no difference. I would still tell you to work with him, so long as our goals coincided," The shieldmistress might as well have been carved out of marble for all the emotion she betrayed. "Good and evil are impractical and, at this juncture, irrelevant." Mai raised a hand in a gesture of polite but explicit dismissal. "Keep me informed if he contacts you again, but I believe you have a speech to work on."

Caught between shock and anger, Suki wandered numbly away from Mai's office, too unsure of everything else to bother with a conscious destination. She'd been halfway to trusting Tai Kahn's silver tongue, now all she wanted to do was rip it out.

She didn't share Mai's implacable confidence; the Black Fist had been so close to succeeding last year. It had only been luck and timing that they had been able to turn back the attack on Omashu and destroy their stronghold in the eastern mountains. If that had been only a fraction of their organization, then there was no way of knowing how far they might reach or how long they had been planning this.

What Suki could not comprehend was the reason behind it. If the Black Fist were committed to the destruction or subjugation of all benders, why would they be fixating their attention on Azula? Admittedly, she was a high profile choice; disgrace upon her would weaken Zuko's position significantly, but the Fire Nation was not like the Earth Kingdom. The people would see a ruler without strong firebending ability as weak, unable to defend his nation through combat and thus unworthy of their allegiance.

Regardless of what their intentions were, Suki could not bring herself to dismiss the Black Fist's involvement the way Mai had. The risk of what they might do with increased strength was too great.

She slowed her pace as she reached the door to the suite she shared with Sokka. It was closer to dawn than midnight by now but as she slipped into the room she could see him propped up in front of the fire, lit to ward off the chill of pre-dawn air and too little sleep, methodically dragging an oiled cloth in smooth arcs across his black blade.

Sokka's head lifted at her entrance. His eyes raking her whole body once, quickly scanning for any sign of injury before relaxing into the wicked grin which usually preceded a dirty joke about being left alone and forced to polish his sword. The whole interaction was just so utterly normal that for a moment Suki didn't know what to do. She just stood unmoving for a moment, rendered helpless with gratitude and a swell of affection, that even when fighting, amid hatred and old prejudice, Sokka still wanted to crack juvenile sex jokes.

Suki rolled her eyes, because that was how she always responded and they both ignored the fact that the gesture came much too late to be natural. Stepping around the room's ornamental centerpiece table with its ostentatious floral arrangements, shedding her knives and her fan belt, Suki settled down on the sofa next to him, not speaking, but pressing close enough that they touched shoulder to hip. She drew her feet up onto the cushions and fixed her attention to the smooth motions of the oiling cloth, ignoring the weight of Sokka's eyes on her.

They stayed like that until the black metal gleamed so cleanly in the firelight that Suki could see her own face reflected back at her. "What should I do?" She asked, apropos of seemingly nothing.

"Exactly the same thing you do every time," He replied without asking for context. "What you know is right, no matter how hard it is."

"And if there are two right things?"

"Then you explain it to someone you trust," Sokka slid the space sword carefully back into its battleworn scabbard and pushed it just underneath their seat, before tugging Suki towards him until she was half lying with her back against his warm chest. "You don't have to tell me," He said carefully. "But you can, you know. Whatever it is, I'm here to listen. I won't even say anything. Although," Sokka amended with a grimace Suki could see from the corner of her eye. "You might have to keep reminding me that I promised."

Suki exhaled a ghost of a laugh, wriggling further back against him, but the sky had lightened to a pale wash of blue before she found the will to speak.

* * *

"This is going to be ugly."

Aang, half asleep, came back to the waking world with a truly ridiculous snorting noise. "What?"

Toph rolled over, hoisting herself up against the pillows and the side of the bed; feeling Aang shift to press his face into her side, mouthing a sleepy kiss against her hipbone. "This," She repeated. "Tomorrow, the trial. It's all going to go badly no matter what happens. "

"No good can come of death." Aang sounded awake now, full of the strength of tested conviction.

"I still don't entirely agree with you there, Twinkletoes," She stroked her thumb over his shorn nape and up behind one ear just to feel him shiver. "But in this case, you might be right; can't think that way when you're sitting with the council though. You'll have to at least pretend you're impartial."

"I'm not sure whether to be grateful they still want me or angry the council is insisting I be part of the judgment." It was almost like seeing, Toph reflected, to feel Aang's expressions as he spoke pressed against her stomach. "I have a feeling I'm only there because they think I can do something about Zuko."

She hummed in noncommittal encouragement, unable to decide between rational discussion and her need to make fun of Zuko whenever possible. "I understand why Katara's upset," She said. "But what Sparky is doing makes sense; any advantage over the enemy, right?"

"Even if it preys on something we're all trying to forget?"

"Those who fight dirty survive to lie about it afterwards," He chuckled at the quip, a buzz of sound across her skin. "I'm not much for honour when lives are on the line."

"It's hard not to worry about what Zuko using Ozai's legacy might mean though. Especially for Katara."

"I worry about her too Twinkletoes. But Sugar Queen didn't walk into this thinking it would be all sunshine and panda lilies."

Aang sighed, shifting restlessly. "Sometimes it feels like we all picked the hardest road when it comes to love. Sokka and Suki are still waiting for each other; Katara and Zuko and all that politics…"

"What am I, Twinkletoes? Chopped liver? Other than that whole 'demon bent on vengeance' thing, I say we have it pretty easy."

"We're going to have to have children," Aang fairly blurted the words, biting down on the knuckles of his left hand too late to actually stop himself from speaking.

Toph swore for a moment she felt her own heart stop. "Yeah?" She said, painfully casual.

"I mean _we _don't have to have children," He said at a rush, tracing the chi paths of her arm where she would have been tattooed, if she were an airbender, as though it might soothe her. "But I need to have at least a few and I only want to have them with _you_."

"Are you proposing we start right now? Toph's voice came out more strangled than sardonic. They hadn't exactly been careful at the beginning. She'd made sure to drink a whole pot of Varrin's wild carrot flower tea when they had finally made it back to civilization but Toph had no idea whether it would have been effective, given that she had always been scrupulously careful before. The idea that Aang would _want_to start a family immediately hadn't even crossed her mind.

"I think," Aang turned and sat up, gathering her close as though he could sense Toph's distress, he kissed the tips of her fingers one by one. "That we have enough to worry about right now. I just want you to consider it."

"Bearing your children." Her panic subsided. Knowing that he wasn't asking for an immediate decision somehow made the whole concept less threatening.

She could feel Aang nod as he slid a palm down to her lower abdomen.

"Is it hard to imagine?"

"Oddly enough," Her words were only just above a whisper. "No."

"Obviously we can wait till you're ready," Aang babbled, but she could sense the smile threatening to split his face. "But I'm glad you're…. I like the idea."

Toph wriggled, feeling the press of him, hard against her hip. "I can tell," she grinned as wickedly as she could manage. "You want to practice?"

"Well," He said with mock consideration. "We ought to make sure we've got the moves down."

* * *

Ty Lee was waiting in the hallway when Mai opened her office door, her vision slightly bleary from lack of sleep and her head still scattered. They stared at one another for a long moment before Mai could think of a suitably casual remark, and she hoped that Ty Lee would take her hesitance as surprise rather than the bone deep rush of relief which temporarily struck her dumb.

"You could have knocked."

Based on the searching look Ty Lee gave her before she pulled Mai into a tight embrace, the other girl hadn't been fooled. She refused to respond to the hug anyway. Mai was slightly distressed, she hadn't lost her mind.

"I told you I'd be here today," Ty Lee said brightly once she finally pulled back. "You weren't working all night were you?" She clicked her tongue at Mai and snagged a sleeve to tug her along toward the residential wings. "We should get you some breakfast."

Mai changed course, flagging down a servant with instructions and leading Ty Lee back to the small room connected to her office and the very comfortable sofa on which she had spent far too many nights. "I wrote to you," Mai said, staring Ty Lee down until she sat and closing the door behind them.

Ty Lee's genial expression faded. "You knew I was going to come."

"I hoped you wouldn't."

"It's Azula," She shrugged, with a trace of a smile. "How could I not?"

"Because you don't owe her anything," Mai kept her voice toneless and smooth. "Neither of us do."

"You know we were lovers."

Mai just stared at her, completely thrown by the casual declaration. "I like men Ty Lee, I'm not an idiot. You two were never exactly subtle." And Azula had always made certain that Ty Lee's affections were fixed on her. If ever there had been a more than sisterly inclination between Mai and Ty Lee, Azula had quashed it in infancy; but not once in more than a decade had the two of them actually spoken about it.

Then again it was possible that was the whole point. Such relationships were not uncommon, but a scion of the royal family would have been expected to have heirs and there was little chance of the Kyoshis or the Avatar's friends being truly sympathetic. Mai was likely the only person Ty Lee would or could ever tell.

The former acrobat just smiled, not sheepish in the slightest. "Azula, she was just… incandescent. You remember. The way she could fix her attention on you and it was like you were the only person in the world."

"Right before she'd tear you to shreds." Mai couldn't keep the growl from her voice.

"But she was kind too," Ty Lee protested. "She looked out for us."

"She was not kind," Anger coloured her voice before Mai could stop it and she fought to school herself back to neutrality. "She was manipulative; even when we were children. You just could never see it."

"I saw it. I'm not stupid Mai, whatever you think of me. I knew there was something wrong. I just thought if I stuck with it, tried a little harder, I'd be enough for her."

"You were _more_ than she deserved." Mai spat.

Ty Lee made a face. "I know that now," She rolled her eyes. "Now I have Akemi and the boys, who all adore me, and a team I believe in to fight beside; but sometimes," Her voice turned wistful. "I could melt that cold exterior and she'd smile and say I'd been made just for her. I always felt protected with Azula, even the anger just seemed like passion. She used to tell me how much she needed me, how I was the only one who understood her. I couldn't bear the idea that I might hurt her by disagreeing."

But Mai could only think of watching as Azula had drawn Ty Lee away from everyone else; her family and the other friends the bubbly girl had made at school. The way she'd been jealous and fiercely possessive of them both.

It hadn't taken Mai long to realize that when Azula talked about them being a team against the world, what she really meant was that they belonged to her.

"Every time I watched her cut someone down and she'd turn back to us, to me. It just meant that I was special. That I was worthy of her attention and affection." Ty lee smiled, helplessly. "You were there with me. At the beginning, you understood. To be seen by someone like that was, just, everything."

Memory cut through Mai as sharp as a blade. The little girl she had been so long ago, rewarded for being as unobtrusive and unremarkable as possible, basking under the attention of the charismatic princess.

Azula had pushed her, taught her not just to own her skills but to hone them, to forge her talents into weapons in their own right. It was Azula's boldness, when they were barely eight years old, which had dared Mai to hope for something more than a society marriage.

She sat heavily on the daybed next to Ty Lee, lifting her feet onto the cushions and turning so that they were face to face. Ty Lee who had grown up as just one more face in a set of interchangeable sisters; who'd wanted so badly to be seen.

Azula had read their weaknesses and exploited them as easily as breathing, Mai knew that now; but for a while… It _had _been them against the world. Special, chosen, and basking in Azula's light.

"I miss her," Ty Lee whispered as though the admission might cut if she spoke it too loudly.

Mai winced. "I do too."

She exhaled sharply and shook her head. "But I don't care. I hate her," She gripped Ty Lee's hands tightly. "I hate her for what she did to you ... for breaking your heart."

Ty Lee tipped forward, pressing her face to the concave hollow between Mai's collarbone and the ridge of her shoulder. "And I'd have done _anything _for her ... except watch you die."

Mai tipped her head back, blinking rapidly to wick away any trace of dampness in her eyes before Ty Lee looked up. "We're going to have to leave soon, if we want to make it on time," She pressed an awkward hand to the space between Ty Lee's shoulder blades. "This will not be easy to watch."

Ty Lee's muffled laughter was halfway to sobs. "Nothing with Azula ever is."

* * *

The Fire Nation capital's official courthouse was rarely used. For the majority of cases the magistrate of the district in which the offense took place would serve a multitude of roles, acting as the detective, the judge, and the jury, usually with the assistance of a second and a legal clerk who performed additional research and occasionally offered assistance in the judge's deliberations. Most of these cases were tried and sentenced in the personal offices of the magistrates, usually attached or near to the stations of whatever policing force the district boasted.

The official courthouse was only used in instances of particularly heinous or treasonous crimes. In such cases, the expertise of more than one was required. Each magistrate lent their experience to the trial and the Fire Lord himself sat in final judgement.

On this day, however, it was Aang who took the central chair behind the long, low table covered in red brocade. The seat was golden wood, lacquered until it shone with a gloss that rivaled the Dragon Throne itself, and flanked on either side by six smaller chairs; one for each of the twelve districts. The members of the Council of Four Nations did not quite fill the available space, but they had certainly made an effort to appear as officious and imposing as possible. No easy task in such an impressive arena.

The room itself was an enormous amphitheater, sunk deep into the bedrock of the caldera and built up enough that it towered over neighboring buildings. Though the courthouse was built as a circle, the ascendant seating did not completely ring the central orchestra; covering three quarters of the space, arrayed around the judge's dais.

Those who had some part or investment in the proceedings were situated in the first and second ring of benches, barely off the central floor. The rest of the tiered seats were divided from them by a wide horizontal aisle, a copy of which separated the upper and lower banks of semicircular pews and intersected with the vertical stairways that allowed the citizens to reach their seats.

While trials were generally attended only by families of the victims or curious students, for an arraignment of this magnitude there were always a wealth of witnesses. The lower rings were reserved for nobles or higher ranking officials, and even when full they looked sparsely populated against the backdrop of the teeming upper benches, where any citizen of the Fire Nation who arrived early enough could watch the proceedings.

Despite the fact that the amphitheater's size meant that those observing from the back rows would see smudges of colour and movement rather than any details of expression, the building had been created with near perfect acoustics. A whisper from the central floor could carry the length and breadth of the space easily.

Katara and Zuko were side by side in the center of the first ring of benches, the area round them cordoned off with red and gold bunting to designate that section as a place for the royal family. Ursa and Iroh sat behind; both grim faced, though the dowager Fire Lady looked pale to the point of anemia. They were flanked on either side by Golden Shield Guards in full regalia, who watched the restless crowds warily for any sign of trouble. Sokka had not been permitted to sit next to Suki - those who were taking part in the proceedings scheduled for today had been shuffled off to one side of the semicircular bench - so he and Toph had ensconced themselves next to the newly arrived Kyoshi Warriors on Zuko's right.

A hush fell over the assembly as one of the Magistrates, looking supremely irritated at being relegated to clerk, stepped to the center of the floor and addressed the room.

"On this day, stand witness to the trial of Azula, second child of Ozai, son of Azulon, forty-eighth crown princess of the Fire Nation and heir to the dragon throne, for grave breach crimes against the people of all nations."

On Aang's right hand the Fire Sage Shyu rose from his seat. "Bring the accused forward."

They had changed her out of her prison garb. Sokka noted, trying to remain detached and fight the instinctive desire to reach for a sword that wasn't on his back. Azula was dressed in an almost aggressively simple red robe. Dark pants peaked out from beneath the hem, and a black obi encircled her waist, but there was no ornament to her clothing. Nothing that marked her as a princess except her bearing. Azula swept into the room as though a retinue followed behind her and the chi blockers that flanked either side were an honour guard rather than a preventative measure. there was an arrogant smugness writ in every line of her body that made Sokka want to grind his teeth, but was obviously impressing the crowd, from the way onlookers fell immediately silent as she sauntered to the center of the open circle before the judges table.

Sage Shyu cleared his throat and gave the princess a long speculative look before he began to speak.

"Azula, daughter of Ozai, you are accused of the attempted genocide of the airbenders. Attempted cultural genocide of the southern waterbenders. Willfully killing, torture and maiming of war prisoners. Compelling service of soldiers in the forces of a hostile power. Extensive destruction and seizure of property not justified by military necessity. Unlawful transfer and confinement of non-combatants and the execution of military personnel without just cause or court martial.

"If found guilty you will be sentenced to die by the official method of the Fire Nation; public immolation-"

"That is not true!" Zuko was on his feet, shouting before anyone could stop him. "That was my father's practice, not mine! It's barbaric and needlessly cruel and will not be tolerated under my reign. If I cannot abolish the death penalty altogether then I f_orbid _burning people alive!"

The sound of Iroh smacking a hand over his face was almost audible before the room descended into frantic whispers. To his credit, Zuko didn't turn red or look even slightly abashed at his outburst. He simply gave an imperious nod to the council and sat down.

There was the slightest hint of a smile on the sage's face as her repeated. "...If you are found guilty you will be sentenced to die by the _current_ official method of the Fire Nation; beheading. Do you understand the facts that have been presented to you?"

Azula didn't shift or nod or move at all, her voice was clear and steady. "I do."

"Very well," Shyu looked as though he'd been hoping that Azula would be insolent or incentive, just so he could order her out of his sight. "We will question you now, after which witnesses and victims will be called on to give testimony. Then you or your representative will have the opportunity to mount a defense before you are sentenced. Do you have anyone here who is more familiar with the practices of the law and willing to advise you."

"I am Crown Princess," Her face was turned away from the crowd, but the imperious tone easily conveyed Azula's scorn. "I require no assistance."

"Lady Azula," Shyu warned. "This is a serious matter and legal council is advised-"

"Oh get on with it, you odious little man."

The familiar Water Tribe representative looked absolutely livid and that Earth Kingdom toady Qun seemed to be having trouble keeping his smugness to less than toxic levels as he smoothly took over the inquiries.

* * *

At midday they broke for a recess, to give the Council a chance to deliberate, and the rest of them a moment to get something to eat. The questioning had been exhaustive; every detail of Azula's military career, her first commands putting down rebellions and building infrastructure for the Fire Nations war machine in their outlying territories. A day by day account of her travels to the Northern Earth Kingdom with the intention to secure Zuko for her father and her brother's consequent escape. Her hunt for the Avatar and conquest of Ba Sing Se, which had wiped the smug smile off of the Earth Kingdom representatives face a little. The council had picked over her life with a fine toothed comb, demanding the details behind every tactical choice, trying to catch the princess in an admission of guilt.

Azula was far too clever to fall for such an obvious trap. She had answered ever inquiry with the detached air of a soldier offering a mission debriefing, but she referred to Zuko and Iroh, Mai and Ty Lee as 'traitors' and 'enemies' too often for it to be anything but a deliberate dig at the legitimacy of Zuko's rule in front of so many people. Azula had somehow managed to make even the most ruthless of judgements seem like sound battlefield reasoning.

Sokka couldn't help but wonder exactly how many people would accept her version of events as truth simply because she was their princess and he felt faintly ill. Toph had left him in the antechamber to the room where a repast had been put out for the Fire Lord and other important figures in the proceedings. He had just managed to rediscover his appetite when Suki came around the corner, flanked by Ty Lee and Xin and speaking in low urgent tones. Sokka held back for a moment, not wanting to interrupt until Suki's voice rose, cracking. "I am begging you." and he was at her elbow before he'd consciously decided to move.

Suki, however, seemed less than pleased by his show of support. "Not you too. All of you need to leave, now."

"And let you go through that alone? Not a chance Lambietoes. We're with you."

"I don't want you there. I _cannot _have you there." Suki insisted, her muscles visibly tightening with tension.

Xin nodded at him, her tone reassuring. "We're staying commander."

Suki's attention snapped to her. "That is an _order_."

"Then I offer my resignation," Xin's expression was every bit as dark as Suki's. "And my life, if necessary, for failing to carry out your orders; But it's just you and me now commander, everyone else is gone and I will _not_leave you by yourself, even if it means you exile me."

"And if it means _my_ exile?" Suki looked next to despair. "Xin... I can't... you - you'll never," Her eyes flicked from Xin to Ty Lee to Sokka. "You don't know what happened, and you were _there_... I have to tell them or she'll walk free but you can't - you _can't_ know."

"We all understand it was bad commander," Xin shifted, trying to catch Suki's eyes and Ty Lee's hand wrapped around her wrist, drawing them both back and away from the two warriors. "But you got out and you got _us_ out. Chiyo leaving the Island, Priya … Priya's death afterwards; they never blamed you. None of us did."

"_No!"_ Suki cut her off with an almost violent half aborted gesture. "I failed _her_, I failed _all of you_. You have no _idea_-" Her energy seemed to drain away as the sentence trailed off and Suki looked up at him with an expression that was near to hysterical. "I guess we'll end up at the South Pole after all." She shrugged, a half manic laugh rippling through her words.

"Suki..." Ty Lee, reached out, but Suki ducked under her hand and strode away before any one of them could stop her.

"It can't possibly be as bad as she thinks." Xin declared, but Sokka couldn't help hearing how desperately the other girl was trying to convince herself.

* * *

Suki could not stop shaking. She had wrapped her hands so tightly in the extra length of her sash that her knuckles were white and her flesh was beginning to swell and redden from the pressure of trapped blood, but the bone deep tremor through her was so violent she was faintly surprised her seat wasn't rattling.

In the end, her descent to the chamber floor was bizarrely bloodless. Rather than have her stand for the testimony, the guards had left Azula wherever she had been taken during the court's recess. Instead of standing pinned by mocking golden eyes, Suki held the floor alone; her back to the thousands of spectators, to her warriors and her friends and to Sokka, staring up at a blur of round faces and elaborate robes which seem more like mannequins than people who's judgement she would have to endure.

Suki unclenched her jaw, feeling almost lightheaded with relief and the words began to simply pour out of her, clean and clinical in the breathless silence.

"Myself and five Kyoshi Warriors were defeated and captured by Princess Azula fifty miles from Ba Sing Se while attempting to defend Appa, the Avatar's Sky Bison. The Princess, Mai, and Ty Lee were traveling alone, but once we had been subdued they sent one of their number to retrieve a platoon from the nearest Fire Nation base. I had a head injury and was unconscious for most of the time, but we were kept in a holding cell and later marched with a column to the coast for transport back to the Fire Nation."

"Deportation of prisoners of war is forbidden under convention number-"

"I think perhaps it would be best if we let the commander give her account in full without interruption before we go naming all implicated crimes." Aang interrupted the clerk smoothly, his voice gentle, but with an undercurrent that brooked absolutely no argument. Suki tried not to be too pathetically grateful for his intercession.

"The march was unpleasant, but not inhumane," Suki began again. "They fed us. Didn't push so hard that we couldn't recover from our injuries. The boat ride back was… less so. Space was at a premium and the five of us were placed in a cell meant for two. It was a four day journey and they gave us water but no food."

_She'd tried to be stoic in the face of aching, gnawing hunger. Tried to coax her sisters to sleep as much as possible and drink Suki's share of the stale, brackish water._

"We were transported through the city to the palace by black mariah in the middle of the night and taken far underground through what looked like servants' tunnels, though we didn't actually see anyone. It became clear later that this was at Azula's special order and few people knew we were in the palace at all. It was…

_Dark, cold, far, far underground intended to keep firebenders deprived of any trace of the sun's energy. An endless stretch of time, marked only by the guard's sporadic deliveries of food. The constant reek of sweat and fear and unwashed human. The guards had hit her when she'd tried to fight back, smacked her down when she'd shouted and spat on them, but their abuse was mostly verbal and after a time they seemed to lose interest in taunting the captured warriors at all._

"…Bearable. I'm not sure exactly how long we were down there for, but eventually they moved me into solitary,"

_She'd cursed herself later for not putting up more of a fight, for trying to appeal to her captor's honour by acting the model prisoner._"I'm not certain if it was the goal exactly, but it resulted in a kind of aggressive deprivation. I didn't speak to anyone, or see anyone. They pushed in water and bread through a hole in the door. The cell was," Suki held her arms out, remembering. "Just wide enough that I could touch it. Flat black stone, no windows. It didn't even smell like anything."

_It had deadened sound too. At first Suki had tried to occupy her mind and keep her body limber, but she'd burned through her meager reserves of energy too fast and what food they gave her only just kept the edge off starvation. It clouded her thoughts and with no way of marking time Suki had quickly lost track of how long she'd been down there. It felt like an eternity. Suki had tried talking to herself, tried everything she could think of to keep her panic at bay and eventually been reduced to crying out, screaming her throat raw just begging for an answer, wondering if they'd simply forgotten her; if she was going to waste away to nothing buried so far down._

"Eventually, they pulled me out and took me to Azula." _She'd flinched at everything, so bright and sharp and loud after the smothering darkness of her cell; but it hadn't stopped Suki from hurling herself at Azula with a snarl, the instant the guards had released her and backed away. The princess had caught her with a smooth kick that sent Suki sprawling, crossing the room in an instant to hold a tongue of flame just above one of Suki's eyes._

_"It's good to see you're not totally pathetic after all." The princess practically sneered._

"She had me chained up to something I think was meant to hold benders. Arms out, legs immobilized. I remember her laughing when I saw that half the room was set up a little like a healing house, with physician's equipment, clean water and towels. The first thing she asked me was 'Where is the Avatar?'"

_Suki had laughed, the sound slightly broken by hysteria. "Haven't we already done this? I don't know."_

_"I think you do and you are lying to me," Azula grinned like a little girl who knew she was about to get away with something bad. "But since I am so generous I will give you another chance to capitulate. Where is the Avatar?"_

_"I. Don't. Know." Suki gritted out through clenched teeth._

_Azula narrowed her eyes._

"They brought in Mila, who was my second in command at the time. It was the first I had heard of any of my warriors since we'd been separated and I don't think I'd ever been so glad to see someone alive. She was tied up and I remember being surprised that she looked wet, but I was more focused on the gag in her mouth and the fact that I couldn't ask after the others. She looked so scared…"

_Mila's eyes tracked Azula across the room as the princess stepped between her and Suki. "I'm going to ask you one more time," Azula said. "And then I'm going to burn her to death."_

"I don't really remember what I said. I was just screaming over and over, swearing that I didn't know, begging for Mila's life. She – Mila, she smiled at me, right before Azula put the flame to her, just for a second. Like she was trying to reassure me, even though …. I'd never seen anyone burn so fast. They'd doused her in oil."

_The scream went on and on, even muffled by the gag in Mila's mouth, and the whole room filled with the stench of ash and cooking meat. Suki had nearly dislocated her arm throwing herself against the ropes that held her, roaring and screaming long after Mila was only a charred shape on the floor. It wasn't until the tears had soaked through the high neck of her uniform that Suki realized she had been crying._

_"The Avatar is dead," Azula crooned into her ear like a lover. "I roasted him like your little friend. Burned him badly enough that cooking juices poured out of the cracks in his skin and when they tried to move him his arm twisted off like a drumstick."_

_Suki had gagged, sobbing, barely able to comprehend what the princess was saying. "Then…why?"_

_"Because you need to understand that your lives to me are less than nothing. The only reason you're still breathing is that you might know something useful and if you don't prove worthy of my time, then I will make them beg for death in front of you." Azula stepped back, smiling. "Now, I think we should start with your name."_

"After that, I told her almost everything she wanted to know."

Suki took a deep breath. "But information never seemed to be what she was actually after. Or at least it didn't appease her at all." Steeling herself once again, Suki began to detail weeks of torment at Azula's hands.

_The strike of a long, switchlike wire across her upper back, opening a thin red slice in her skin, deep enough to bleed but not to scar, then another and another till Suki's skin was a pulpy mess._

_"Anything...else?" She gasped._

_Azula's laugh was throaty and pleased. "If I damage you too badly, you'll lose sensation." She explained. "I've been studying, but you are my first human test subject. I intend to keep you alive and screaming for as long as I possibly can." Azula tossed the switch to a waiting servant and lifted a bronze bowl full of water; licking a tongue of flame over the bottom until it boiled._

_"Now, I want you to plan for me the perfect invasion of Kyoshi Island."_

_"Go to the Depths, bitch." Suki spat._

_Azula just lifted a dripping sponge and squeezed the boiling, salted water over Suki's wounds, her grin widening as the bound warrior howled._

"It was practice," She continued, noting that more than one of her watchers had blanched. "Training of a kind. She seemed interested in what methods would work best against me; physical pain or psychological damage. She would ask me questions she knew the answers to and then punish me for lying when we both knew I was telling the truth. She'd bring me to the point of begging for mercy and try to get me to sacrifice my warriors for a reprieve... and then throw them to the soldiers anyways," Suki gave a bitter chuckle. "That was the only way I knew they were still alive."

"Eventually Azula stopped asking basic questions. She wanted extensive detailing of the defenses and battle plans for different settlements; where to strike and do the most damage without having to face the brunt of the Earth Kingdom's armies. I guess she wasn't aware of Ozai's endgame plan at the time."

"It's been established that it was the suggestion of the Princess that the Earth Kingdom would not submit as a productive vassal state to the Fire Nation which led to the plan to raze the whole continent."

The petty official continued his droning interruption, reminding the council that widespread destruction of arable land was also forbidden under the earliest laws of conflict, but Suki could hardly hear him over the sound of Azula's voice in her head.

_"So much like us, but so much weaker," The princess had taunted. "What will it take to burn that weakness out of you? Hmm?" She raked the lines of Suki's ribs with burning fingers. "To make you kneel and swear your allegiance to me?"_

_"I'd rather die." Suki panted, once she could stop screaming. "Please…. Just let me."_

_Azula's laugh was delighted. "Oh no. No, no, no pet. It might not work for your whole crumbling nation, but I will see you burn down Kyoshi's temple on my orders before I'm done with you."_

"I'm not sure exactly how long it was," Suki said after a long shuddering exhale. "She didn't keep to any kind of schedule I could discern and I was delirious for a lot of it and time with Azula tended to keep you rather aggressively in the moment," She grit her teeth at the memory of omnipresent agony. "Then one day she just sent me away."

_"Don't worry pet, it's not forever." Azula crooned, clamping a thick cloth, reeking of chemicals over Suki's nose and mouth. She began to fight back instinctively as her air was cut off and shrieked at the nauseating yank of the long needle thin senbon threaded through the skin of her shoulders and arms. She could see Azula smirking at her through the descending haze of the drug. "And when you come back you might even have friends here for me to play with. But we wouldn't want to chance them finding you here." Her face turned hard. "You're mine. Forever."_

_Suki could only whimper as darkness swamped her._

"That was the last time I saw the princess as her prisoner; right before the Day of Black Sun."

The hush that had fallen over the room seemed to echo. Suki chanced a glance up at the panel of judges before her and was caught for a moment by the terrible compassion on Aang's face before she could yank her gaze away again.

One of the lower Fire Nation magistrates cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention as he gave Suki a slightly scornful once over.

"A compelling story commander," He said in an oily voice. "It seems rather unfeasible that you would have adjusted so well after such a trauma."

Suki couldn't even muster up the indignation to be angry at the man. The skepticism felt inevitable.

They sent me to the Boiling Rock," She said bleakly. "The guards unchained me; put me out into the yard with all the other prisoners. And a girl with yellow eyes tried to reinforce the pecking order. She called the Kyoshi's weak," Suki locked eyes with the official. "I snapped her neck."

She hadn't meant to. Suki had been so far away from herself then, her system still swimming with a cocktail of drugs, she'd looked up and only seen Azula.

"The guards threw me back in solitary. But they fed me, checked on me regularly. It gave me a chance to heal, to start feeling like a person again." She allowed herself a slight twitch of a wry smirk. "From constant abuse to only being hurt when I stepped out of line. And they started talking, gossiping about all the horrible things I must have done to get sent all the way to the Boiling Rock, when the rest of my warriors were back in a mainland prison. Which meant that she'd stopped hurting them once I was gone."

"I had to live, to get them out," She explained with an absent shrug. "It's not so unfeasible."

The magistrate had the decency to look abashed, scanning the faces of the crowd behind her. Suki dared not turn to look, fixing her gaze once more on the edge of the scarlet tablecloth.

She was not proud of the fact that she'd lost control of herself enough to kill without meaning to, but Suki could not deny that the act of destroying even a facsimile of her abuser had gone a long way to restoring her sense of herself. It reminded her that she was not just a victim, and that power without restraint, strength without wisdom or control.

Sitting in that cell, trying to scrape herself back together Suki had sworn that that piece of symbolic vengeance would be enough.

Suki had seen the damage war could wreak on a person's psyche. Men and women who had left the Island to serve the war effort and come back unrecognizably altered; trapped behind walls of insensitivity necessitated by the horrors of war, the twisting shame of survivors guilt, the trauma of loss. It broke people - it would come to break Priya, though she hadn't known it at the time – the incomplete transition, the inability to let go.

In order to be strong enough to help her sisters, Suki had chosen peace over retribution.

And now eight years later she stood ready to alienate her friends, her family; to play into the machinations of monsters and mountebanks for it.

But bones of the earth, she wanted Azula punished.

Fire Sage Shyu stood and nodded deferentially at her, so deep it was almost a bow and clearly intended to convey the utmost respect. "Thank you Commander, we appreciate your contribution to this trial- "

"Commander Suki, given your testimony, what is your recommendation to the court?" Aang interrupted, not reacting to the susurrus uproar that followed his question.

_Hand her over to me, _Some part of Suki snarled. _I'll make her _pay. But she wouldn't , not really. She couldn't take revenge on someone who would never feel remorse for what she had done.

Death would not erase Suki's scars; it wouldn't bring Mila back.

Suki fixed her attention on Aang. His face was blank, there was no trace of his customary smile, not indication of what he would have preferred as an answer, and not a trace of judgement or pity.

"What is punishment enough for what was done to us?" Suki answered honestly. "There were times under her attentions when I would have welcomed death. I can make no recommendation."

* * *

_A/N - All credit for this chapter goes to my fabulous Beta who put up with ten thousand drafts of this before I was satisfied. _

_Get your voting thumbs out, friends, romans and countrymen and tell me what you think should happen to Azula!_


	20. Wreckage

**XX. From the Wreckage**

* * *

"Abolition of the death penalty, huh?"

Sokka stuffed another half of a bao roll into his mouth, staring Zuko down speculatively as he chewed. Zuko glared at him over the table and yanked the plate of steaming buns out of Sokka's reach. He had stripped off his ornate officious Fire Lord frippery in favour of simple black pants and a red tunic that showed the scorch marks of many training sessions; which made him seem at least a little less out of place in the rougher but warmer atmosphere of the kitchens.

Or night-kitchen, more accurately. At least that's what Toph had called it when they'd gone looking for a snack. The palace, and some large earth kingdom estates, ran their food preparation with all the intensity and regiment of a war command. They cooked for hundreds and began preparing supper almost before the lunch dishes had been swept away. Still, servants were expected to cater to the whims of capricious nobles at any hour so the lesser kitchen was kept stocked with warm water for tea, wines, juices, leftovers and a variety of delicacies. It's hearth and ovens were kept lit all night long, hence the term night-kitchen and it was the only place in the palace that someone not part of the head chef's carefully trained staff could prepare something for themselves.

It was also far and away the most comfortable place in the palace, by Sokka's estimation. None of the expensive blackwood so prevalent in the royal house had been used here, and the constant glow of the fire made the red walls seem warm and comforting rather than ominous. He ran his fingers absently down a deep gouge in the buffed and polished tabletop. Everything here spoke of quality. A richness Sokka hadn't even known existed until he was sixteen. But there was nothing unnecessary about it all; nothing wasted just for the luxury.

It appealed to him. Exactly the kind of place he had wanted for the chieftain's seat at the South Pole, the sort of impression he had wanted to give their visitors. Value without artifice.

Zuko had already been pouring hot water over what looked like a bundle of sticks, but smelled like toasted walnuts and coconut. He had barely raised an eyebrow when Sokka and Toph entered, just settled two more cups onto the table and jerked his thumb in the direction of the pantry that Sokka had been hungrily scanning the room for.

Aang had appeared just in time to snatch the topmost bun from the heaping pile that Sokka had been carefully manoeuvring towards the table and settled down next to Toph with a faint smile that was a far cry from his usual blinding grin.

For a while they each seemed to arrive at a tacit agreement not to speak. Or maybe there had just been nothing anyone could think of to encompass or cut away from the events of the day. Suki had left the courthouse with her warriors and Sokka had sat brooding in their rooms until Toph had come to drag him out. But the silence became slowly grating the longer it lasted, beginning to sound like all the pity Suki never would have wanted. So he snapped and tried to pick a fight with Zuko.

"I think it's a wonderful idea." Aang interrupted before Zuko could respond, putting a swift end to Sokka's dreams of a good argument to make everything seem simpler, like it was all something that could be solved by pointing a finger and declaring it the jerkbender's fault.

Sokka rolled his eyes. "You know Aang, your opinion would hold more weight if you weren't an airbender. The point being as how they were the only nation ever to do so."

"Political dissidents in the Earth Kingdom just tend to disappear," Toph shrugged. "The country is too big to enforce the laws of Ba Sing Se everywhere. Raiders and thieves tend to get strung up in rural villages; pirates are hung in most coastal towns."

Zuko nodded. "We do that. As a warning. And for murder, sometimes. Traditionally I mean," He scrubbed his hands through his hair, making it stick up in awkward spiky cowlicks. "Before my family started beheading people for looking at us wrong."

"How do you plan to get rid of death sentencing when your country loves to duel, anyway?" Sokka asked.

"An Agni Kai is classified as a private dispute," Zuko tipped back in his chair, draping one forearm over his eyes. "It results in no exchange of property or wealth and both participants are free to refuse or to prearrange the terms of defeat. Basically since everyone agrees to possibly die, the government can't stop them."

Toph snorted. "You people are all crazy."

"Oh, and no one ever dies in professional earthbending."

"We get _paid _to die horribly for the amusement of the crowd," She stressed. "And that almost never happens."

"Toph..." Aang looked stricken

She narrowed sightless eyes in his direction. "Choose your next words very carefully Twinkletoes."

"You're very impressive...?"

"Smooth Aang," Sokka said in a stage whisper. "Nice save."

Zuko snorted and Toph flicked a piece of crust at his head, missing wildly. "Why do you think she did it anyway?" She asked no one in particular. "What made princess crazy decide to start torturing people."

"Enma's balls," Zuko exhaled the curse as he lurched to his feet. "If we're having this conversation I need whiskey."

"Seconded." Sokka said, surprised to hear Aang echo the statement almost in unison. Zuko pulled a bottle of something that looked older than they were out of the sideboard and started dumping it in their half-finished tea before Toph squawked in outrage, and swatted at him to sit down while she fished out four clean glasses.

"Don't care how messed up you are Sparky. Respect the good hooch or be smote by the spirit of vengeful hangovers."

"I am the _Fire __Lord_." He insisted. "My whole family is mental, my mother murdered my grandfather and my father, and I just found out my sister brutally tortured one of my oldest friends. Give me that bottle or I will do something _very_ regrettable."

"You don't _know _she killed Ozai."

"Aang, just because we never talked about it doesn't mean we don't all know she killed him." Sokka said lowly. He hadn't seen the inside of Ozai's cell afterwards, but Mai had told them about the marks on the former Fire Lord's body. Deep gouges that resembled the claw marks of a tigerbear – Lady Ursa's namesake.

"Start with this," Toph slid a full glass of the amber liquid down the table and filled it again without argument when Zuko drained the whole thing in one long pull.

"Hey," Sokka put a hand on his arm. Angry and frustrated though they all were, Zuko having a meltdown could only make things much, much worse. "Let the rest of us catch up."

Aang made a noise of agreement and downed his drink too. Sokka expected him to sputter but the young Avatar seemed unconcerned with the burn of the alcohol, too focused on Zuko even to notice.

"You're not crazy Zuko."

The half-cocked, self-deprecating smile combined with the alcohol already adding a glassy sheen to Zuko's eyes did make him look more than a little touched in the head, but Sokka didn't figure now would be the most prudent time to mention it. "You'll take me off the throne right?" There was an old desperation in his voice under the laughter. "Avatar and the Fire Lord. I don't care how much you don't want to; you take me down if I start hurting people."

"Zuko!" Toph banged her cup down on the table hard enough that the glass broke beneath her hands. She didn't so much as twitch. "Stop it Sparky. You stop that right now."

Sokka unpeeled the bindings from his left wrist, tearing the strip in half to mop up the spill and handing the rest to Aang who looked nearly apoplectic at the gash that split Toph's palm.

"No martyr complex. No ridiculous melodramatic whining. You will be fine or we will make you be fine. Do you understand me?" She narrowed sightless eyes at him and held out her uninjured hand expectantly. "Now give me the bottle, my glass has stopped working."

Zoku stared at her for a moment; surprise warring with his anger before he snorted and passed the dusty flagon even though the table was small enough she could easily have reached out and grabbed it on her own.

"It's not a matter of madness," Aang had staunched the blood now, but he didn't look up from Toph's hand. "It's about culpability and justification. No one should be without someone to hold them accountable," His tone was distant, his face blanker than Sokka had ever seen. Toph reached over as though to flick him in the ear , dragging her knuckles over the tight ridge of his trapezius instead and Aang blinked, ducking his head for a moment before refocusing on the room with a wan smile. _Well,__huh_. "That's what makes you… dark."

"And you would be the expert on darkness Aang?"

A bright blue glow flashed through the room and the three of them snapped to attention as Aang's voice reverberated with the cadence of a hundred others. "Sometimes."

"I didn't mean…" Zuko fumbled for an apology, but the Avatar vanished from the room as fast as it had appeared and Aang focused on pouring them each another, substantially smaller drink. He brushed his fingers over Toph's as he handed off the glass, drawing Sokka's attention to the panic that was slowly draining from her face.

"That's why we have to look after each other." Aang continued, his voice adamant.

Sokka stared down at the amber liquid thoughtfully. Once that had been the case, now he wasn't so sure. There was no question he would throw himself in the path of a blade meant for his friends; theirs was a bond forged in war and tempered with years of trust and dependence. But he had other people to care for now, they all did.

Aang knew it too, probably better than anyone, because for him there had always been a greater loyalty.

Sokka raised his glass to them all, bumping Toph's shoulder lightly in lieu of a salute before draining it and stepping back from the table. "I need to find my sister."

* * *

"Commander Suki."

"Consul," Suki replied, a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth over Tai Kahn's expression of pride as she stepped aside to welcome him into the room.

"You were very brave in there," He didn't offer her a handshake, but he looked as though he wanted to.

"You think it was effective then?"

"How could it be doubted? Azula has lost much of her support among the ignorant masses and their dedication to the monarch who hid her crimes is failing as well."

The thought of that brought Suki up short for a moment – she had assumed Katara was being overly dramatic about the possible ramifications for Zuko and his family if Azula was found guilty – but Tai Khan interrupted her thoughts with an unusual hesitance. "I was surprised you didn't offer the council your opinion. That was a risky gesture."

Suki sighed, halfway to slumping before she caught herself. "… The more I spoke about it all the more I felt that it was too easy an option." It pricked at her conscience a little; the determination to sentence someone to a fate worse than death but the man had been nothing but an ally thus far.

Tai Kahn laughed, the sound abrupt and incongruous in the quiet room. Suki stared as he tried to contain his amusement.

"Oh Commander," He sighed finally. "You are more than I ever could have hoped for. I'd thought to come here and urge you not to let sentimentality cloud your judgment."

Anger washed over Suki like icy rain. "Consul whatever my failings I can assure you that sentiment is not one of them."

"No, no my dear, you misunderstand me. I am simply applauding your canny judgment. Your reticence to demand the princess's head, despite the severity of her crimes against you made you rather more noble and magnanimous than the vox populi of the Fire Nation is accustomed to expecting in foreigners. When she dies, in the ensuing fallout, no eye will be turned to you." Tai Kahn gave her an assessing look which made Suki feel naked. She had been so focused on remaining impassive during her explanation so as not to appear weak that she'd given no thought to how the act of speaking might be perceived. She had spoken as she saw, as she felt; but Tai Kahn seemed to think it was some kind of deliberate artifice.

"The ability to set great wheels in motion while passing unnoticed is a valuable one," Tai Kahn continued. "I told you before, commander, that you were in a unique position and I think a woman of your obvious talents could be a great asset to our organization."

"Your organization?" Suki repeated carefully. There was absolutely no chance that Tai Kahn was unaware of her previous encounter with the Black Fist. Breaking a siege by dropping half a mountain into a crevasse was not the best way to pass unnoticed. The question was: did he know she was aware of his allegiances? The Black Fist had never before showed a reluctance to brutally eliminate the competition but Suki could not fathom what Tai Kahn might hope to gain. "Are you attempting to recruit me?"

"After a fashion," He smiled, warm and kind. "I'm part of an international group who are interested in fostering continued communication between the nations. I said that the Fire Nation citizens didn't expect much from you and I meant it. One hundred years of war has made us all too insular, but the issue runs much deeper than that. Our national prejudices are so deeply ingrained we don't even notice them anymore. We're committed to minimizing those perceived differences."

"Through what, exactly?"

"Trade was where we started," He explained. "Increasing communication and recognition. Blending cultures under the radar and on the black market when certain goods were banned for their affiliations."

Suki had a dim memory of her grandmother's birthday when all of her Aunts had pooled their money together to buy the matriarch a single piece of fruit from a trade ship. It was the only one Suki had ever seen at that age and it had been the most vivid shade of pink she'd ever laid eyes on. Her grandmother had kept it on hand for almost a day, just smelling the fragrance coming off the fruit's bright skin.

There had been a whole tree of the fruit at Zuko's house on Ember Island and Suki had gorged herself sick on them.

She had grown up knowing almost nothing about the world outside her island and fearing it all as a result, the same way Sokka and Katara had. Toph's family considered themselves worldly and sophisticated, but they had been just as ignorant about the other Nations. The Fire Lord's war machine had separated them and the other nations had fallen easily to fearing one another and consequently losing the battle on all fronts. International cooperation was an absolute imperative to stop the rebuilding of old hatreds.

Suki found herself in the uncomfortable position of having to agree with the policies of a group of madmen. "And what could you possibly need with me? I am no trader."

Tai Kahn smiled indulgently. "We're not traders anymore commander. Lately we're been taking a more political view. And in government, as in any other arena where the hearts and minds of people must be won or lead, it's really all about perception. An international hero, a woman of unimpeachable honour, a successor of Kyoshi herself; what more could anyone want for a figurehead?"

"I have no interest in being a pretty face to increase the public appeal of your group."

"Not yet," The Consul boldly reached forward and poured them both a cup of tea from the pot Suki had been brewing on the table without waiting for her nod he handed her the tiny cup. "Besides, you're much more than just a pretty face. I told you, your cleverness, your ruthlessness is something we're interested in," He paused to drain his cup and pour again. "It's also why I feel that lying to you for any length of time will not be necessary, whatever my superiors say."

"You agree our cause is primarily beneficial, I could see as much on your face. We have sympathisers in every level of every government. Join us and your friend Zuko will hold his throne. Lady Katara will find new supporters and your lover will have his position as chieftain more than assured."

"They don't need help,"

"Perhaps not, they are strong and capable in their own right. But the will of the people is a fickle thing. Even the avatar himself is not immune to the mutability of favour, and he has lost much of it with his absence. Her status as a hero certainly didn't protect Katara from the people of the Earth Kingdom last fall."

He _knew_. Tai Kahn knew what had happened, not just at Omashu, but the rest of it, most of which they had told no one. Which meant that, whatever his claims, the Black Fist were in enough contact with the Hand that the parent organization had known what they were doing and made no move to stop it.

"I won't be part of anything you offer." Suki's voice rang hollow as she realized just how much she had revealed to Tai Kahn over the course of their acquaintance, an almost itemized list of her vulnerabilities. Trying control her mounting horror and recall anything he might have gleaned about her friends.

"Yes you will," Tai Kahn's smile no longer appeared comforting. "Because, dear Suki, I'm afraid that it's become a case of 'if we can't have you, no one can'. The goodwill and sympathy we have engendered with this trial will last only so long and we must strike quickly to maximise its effect. You will need to be established while you are still fresh in the minds of the people."

"The people of the Fire Nation?" Suki had a sudden, awful feeling that she might never see the shores of Kyoshi Island again.

"Naturally. You will hand off command to your second. Ty Lee is a daughter of the Firelands, everyone will like that. Get you settled as a foreign advisor, trusted as only an old friend can be. The Earth King will appreciate having one of his subjects so close, and the assumed national loyalty of a born soldier will ensure that he trusts you." He chuckled darkly. "We'll even allow you to marry your betrothed, eventually. The water tribes are harder to infiltrate than most – that burning dark skin of theirs – but they grow stronger by the day."

"What if," Suki spoke slowly, trying to keep the tremor from her voice. "What if Azula lives?"

The consul's eyes narrowed. "Ever the strategist, commander. I'm afraid it won't help you here. If Azula lives we'll simply see to it that she gets her chance to set the world on fire. Perhaps we could arrange to have her set free right on the day of the Fire Lord's wedding. See what an entrance she can make." He lowered his voice to an exaggerated aghast whisper. "Agni's line has madness in their blood you know, comes along with being firebenders. Mark my words, Zuko will end up exactly the same way."

Tai Kahn stood, brushing practically imaginary creases from his robe and offered her the same respectful bow that he had given at every meeting of their acquaintance. "Sit with me tomorrow at the verdict," The tone made it sound like a request, but Suki was not so foolish as to believe she actually had any choice in the matter. "Make it apparent that you do not support shielding the royal family from the law."

Suki stared at him but didn't trust herself not to respond. Tai Kahn stepped past her towards the door and for a moment she entertained a vivid fantasy of slicing her fans right through his spine and running as fast and far as she and Sokka could go. Instead, she sat frozen till the door clicked shut behind the devil of a man and she could finally breathe.

Azula had to live.

Even if the Black Fist freed her, and Suki would not make the rookie mistake of assuming they would do it on the date Tai Kahn had offered, she was one woman and could be defeated. Aang could take away her bending. He had protested before that it was impossible, but if the Mad Princess attacked then surely he would have no choice.

She had no doubt that there had been plans in place but whether they would counter Suki's testimony today she wasn't sure, but if Suki offered her advice in the matter to the council she was absolutely certain that Tai Kahn would hear of it. Katara would have to do this on her own.

Suki pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes until white spots burst against the darkness of her lids. She was politically advantageous. And as long as she was useful Tai Kahn would hurt her friends if she resisted. Any attempt to take herself out of the game would naturally be seen as acting against his plans.

Unless it came from someone with no ties to them at all; someone with barely any interest in the future of the Fire Nation.

Suki lurched abruptly to her feet, trying to calm her racing pulse as she staggered for the door. She needed to see Ursa. The exact membership of the White Lotus was unknown, but the society had revealed themselves plainly during the final battles of the war. The Golden Peonies, however, remained a closely guarded secret; hopefully hidden enough that they might be able to offer her some form of insight or protection - But first she would have to track down Kotta of the Northern Water Tribe.

* * *

Katara had been tracking her way back and forth across the hallway in front of Suki's door. Six steps, a turn on her heel and six steps back as she twisted indelible creases into the sash of her dress.

Suki seemed already perturbed when she opened the door, but her mouth actually dropped open at the sight of Katara before she managed to shutter her expression back to impassivity. They looked at one another blankly for a moment before Katara blurted out. "You were right."

"What?"

"About Azula. I was going to, tomorrow, but it doesn't matter."

Suki's hostility evaporated into something that looked like exhaustion. "Katara you're not making sense."

She swallowed carefully and began again. "I- what happened at dinner, I shouldn't have," Katara paused. "I wish I'd known."

"I didn't want you to know." Suki reminded her with a dark smile.

"But if you had told me I wouldn't. I mean I would, but – I'd rather you were safe Suki, and happy. I should never have assumed that this was just for the sake of your pride. You deserve better than that. If Azula's death is what you need to move forward then I'll see it done," Katara nodded emphatically. "You're more important."

Suki stared for a moment and then she started to laugh. The sound of it was shrill, hurt, and slightly hysterical. She threw her head back and covered her face with one hand, though Katara could sense the water welling from her eyes. She stepped forward to catch Suki as the agitated woman slumped against the wall.

They slid slowly down the red lacquered paneling together, coming to rest in a heap in the corridor. "You have terrible timing Katara," Suki said when her laughter had finally tapered into hiccoughing breaths. "And you are really, really awful at apologies." She pressed her cheek to Katara's temple as she untangled herself limb by limb, her voice exasperated and fond. "Do what you know is right and don't worry about me."

"I want to worry about you," Katara insisted, determined to make Suki see that she wasn't alone in this. That their fighting didn't mean Katara wasn't ready to leap to her defense. "We're family."

"It's enough, really, that you would have." Suki gave her arm a squeeze and stood, stretching the stiffness from her muscles and offering Katara a hand. "But let's just say you owe me one."

Katara was reluctant to move, the apology felt unfinished. She wanted to do something to freeze the frail new bridge between them. "…I've gotten better at healing old scars. On me and Toph."

"No," Suki told her firmly. "No, I don't need to hide this anymore."

There was more to that statement than Katara could read at a glance, but she nodded in solemn agreement when Suki said. "Don't ask again."

"The others are in the kitchen," She offered instead. "If you're hungry."

Suki gave a faint smile. "I think I am now. Are you coming?"

"Big day tomorrow." Katara shook her head.

"I hope you win."

"I don't," Katara wrapped the end of her long braid around her fingers. "Not anymore." But she turned back towards her own rooms with her heart lighter, and her resolve more steady than it had been in days.

* * *

The creaking thump of the door closing behind her was a terrifyingly final sound.

There was no reason under Agni's sun that it should fill her with dread. Ursa had seen her share of cells and this one barely qualified.

In fact the heavy iron door was the only indication, besides the lack of windows, that the room was a cell at all. The single bed looked a great deal more comfortable than many places Ursa had lived in her years traveling.

"Hello mother."

She couldn't see Azula at first. The room had been left with a surfeit of torches in some futile attempt to limit the princess's access to fire and it took a moment to realise that what she had thought was a shadow was in fact Azula herself, curled around one of the braziers with her back against the side of the bed, hunched close enough to touch the flame.

"You'll burn yourself." Ursa said, her instinctive concern smashing through any reasonable response.

"Fire doesn't harm itself." Azula retorted, though there was no irritation in her voice.

"Left unchecked, fire will always consume. Nothing escapes, not even our people."

"Is that what you're here to warn me against? Burning unchecked?"

"I am here," Ursa stepped close to the pool of light and sat, draping her skirts backwards to keep them away from the flame. "Because tomorrow you may not be."

"And of the whole wide world, you thought the person I would most want to see would be you?"

The barb hurt, but Ursa did her best to pretend nonchalance. "I thought you wouldn't want to be alone."

Azula chuckled, long and low, lolling her head back against the mattress to look at her mother for the first time and Ursa wondered distantly if she would have bruises on her palms tomorrow from digging her nails in so hard.

"You all seem to think I'm so afraid. You and that man. Said he could save me from rotting away. As though I couldn't smell the hate on him. Can't play a player, little man and I don't bet if the game isn't rigged from the start." Her face snapped from languid amusement to hardness in an instant. "There is no losing option for me."

"Not even death?"

"I was fourteen when the war ended." Azula admonished. "When that water bitch cut me down. How long did great grandfather Sozin live? How long would my namesake Azulon have endured if you hadn't killed him, Mother?" She dipped her hand into the brazier and let the flame dance across her fingertips. Too weak to draw from her own inner fire but still able to manipulate an existing source ever so slightly. "A lifetime in a cell without the touch of my bending, without even the heat of the sun. What is death laid against that?"

"And if you live? If the council rules that they should imprison you again?"

"The man who came to see me promised a return to my rightful place, he swore there would be bloody retribution and cleansing fire," The words dripped from her lips like they were something sweet to be savoured. "No one is crazy enough to believe that load of nonsense. But out here," She spread her arms wide and the fire shifted, swirling to ring her face in a halo of flickering light. "Out here I have options and people falling all over themselves to curry my favour. You would be amazed, mother, at how lax palace security is sometimes. I really thought Mai would have been watching my guards more closely. If they imprison me again I won't be there too long."

"They will be watching you. More closely now than ever." Ursa wanted to curse when her voice came out desperate rather than chiding.

"For a little while, perhaps, but there is no such thing as a perfect defense." She smirked. "Ba Sing Se proved that."

She rose, too disturbed to sit still any longer and snatched the brazier up from the floor, moving to place it atop the dresser on the far side of the room. "Why tell me any of this, Azula? Why give me the chance to stop you?"

The flames around Azula flickered and snuffed out as their source was drawn away, leaving the girl in darkness. "Because you won't stop me mother. You can't stop hoping that one day you'll turn around and I'll be better. That I won't be a monster anymore."

Ursa had come to Azula's cell tonight searching for something to connect with, for some sign that her daughter, whatever crimes she had committed, was still worth saving. So many years they had turned her away from the facility where Azula was being treated. The physicians had claimed that the princess suffered from delusions of her mother - speaking to the empty air and cursing her name – they had said that Ursa's presence would only confuse her, if Azula even managed to recognize her mother as real. But time and again the dowager empress insisted on visiting; once a year on the same day.

"Did I ever tell you the story of the day you were born?"

"Every year on my birthday mother, and even at six years old I found it dull." Azula sighed, her voice regaining it's bored drawl.

"Your Aunt was the one to bring the royal physician. He came in smoking that long pipe and asked how I was doing. I managed to say I was alright but the moment that smoke hit my nose I vomited all over him." That part of the tale had made Azula laugh as a tiny girl, but she didn't so much as twitch now. "You were an easy birth, the last time I think we were ever easy together you and I, then you opened your beautiful dragon eyes and I loved you instantly. I'll never stop loving you Azula."

"And I could not care less." The princess rolled her eyes. "I understand that you feel the need to salve your own conscience mother, but do you really need me to be here for it?"

"Whatever you might believe of yourself my daughter there is no one living who can predict the future. I would rather attempt to make peace now than spend my life wishing I had done things differently."

There was a rustle of fabric as Azula stood, stepping forward into the light. "Come now mother, self-deception is foolish and pointless," She grinned, the ruddy light of the fire staining her teeth into a blood red smile. "I wouldn't change, even if I could. That's what you never understood. I am so much stronger than all of you can comprehend."

There was no use in it. She was far too late to fight for the heart of a daughter who had barely been hers to begin with.

She had lost Azula long ago and no matter what happened in the morning Ursa would never forgive herself for that.

* * *

_A/N - I'm not dead!_

_Really no excuse for how long this took. Sorry kids, hope you're still reading!_


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